Freenome Lands $300 Million Series D for Early Cancer Detection

<p><strong><span class&equals;"xn-location">SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;span> <&sol;strong>&&num;8212&semi; Freenome&comma; a privately held biotech company&comma; has landed a Series D funding of <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;300 million<&sol;span>&period; This brings the company&&num;8217&semi;s total financing to over <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;800 million<&sol;span> since the company was founded in 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This round was led by Perceptive Advisors and RA Capital Management&comma; joined by existing investors including a16z Life Sciences Growth Fund&comma; the American Cancer Society&&num;8217&semi;s BrightEdge Ventures&comma; Artis Ventures&comma; Bain Capital Life Sciences&comma; Catalio Capital Management&comma; Cormorant Capital&comma; DCVC&comma; Farallon Capital Management&comma; Fidelity Management and Research Company LLC&comma; GV&comma; Janus Henderson Investors&comma; Kaiser Permanente&comma; Novartis&comma; Polaris Partners&comma; Ridgeback Capital Management&comma; Roche Venture Fund&comma; Rock Springs Capital&comma; Sands Capital&comma; Section 32&comma; Soleus Capital Management&comma; with funds and accounts advised by T&period; Rowe Price Associates&comma; Inc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition&comma; there were several new biotech institutional investors well-placed to support the company&&num;8217&semi;s mission including ArrowMark Partners&comma; Byers Capital&comma; Eventide Asset Management LLC&comma; HBM Healthcare Investments&comma; Intermountain Ventures&comma; Logos Capital&comma; Pura Vida Investments&comma; Suvretta Capital Management&comma; and other undisclosed funds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The funding will support the advancement of the company&&num;8217&semi;s colorectal cancer &lpar;CRC&rpar; screening test and expansion of its multiomics platform to other cancers&period; Freenome&&num;8217&semi;s platform uses a routine blood test to detect cancer in its earliest stages&comma; when it is most treatable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is estimated that nearly 53&comma;000 people will die from CRC this year and only 67&percnt; of average-risk individuals over the age of 50 are up to date on CRC screening&period; With recent guideline changes lowering the age from 50 to 45&comma; even more people need to be screened&period; Freenome&&num;8217&semi;s multiomics blood test can help address adherence challenges with existing approaches by providing a convenient and patient-friendly option&period; The test is being validated in PREEMPT CRC&comma; Freenome&&num;8217&semi;s large&comma; prospective registrational study&comma; currently in the final stages of enrollment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The company is also extending its platform to develop tests for other cancers and recently presented promising <u>data<&sol;u> in the detection of pancreatic cancer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We appreciate the shared belief our investors have in what is possible when it comes to fighting cancer&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">Mike Nolan<&sol;span>&comma; chief executive officer of Freenome&period; &&num;8220&semi;This funding gets us closer to bringing our early cancer detection tests to everyone&comma; ultimately saving lives&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;re excited about Freenome&&num;8217&semi;s multiomics platform and its ability to detect not just CRC but also other cancers&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Ellen Hukkelhoven&comma; Ph&period;D&period;&comma; Perceptive Advisors&period; &&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;re proud to help drive continued progress in bringing Freenome&&num;8217&semi;s tests to the forefront of patient care&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;