The Pittsburgh spinout is building a precision diagnostic platform that uses genomics to underpin research into conditions such as chronic pancreatic disease.
Ariel Precision Medicine, a US-based genomics spinout from University of Pittsburgh focused on pancreatic diseases, has obtained $1m in funding to date, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Monday.
The publication named Innovation Works and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse as investors along with undisclosed backers.
Ariel is developing a genomics-based cure for conditions such as chronic pancreatic disease, a persistent inflammation of the pancreas with symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
The PancreasDx precision diagnostics platform targets 12 genes associated with pancreatic disorders to understand how an individual’s genetic composition might affect the response to potential therapies.
The spinout is based on work by David Whitcomb, professor of medicine, cell biology and human genetics at University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, and Jessica Gibson, an emergency medicine graduate of Pittsburgh who now acts as chief executive of Ariel.
Full details of Ariel’s funding have not been disclosed, though Pittsburgh Life Sciences was confirmed as an investor in March 2017 with a reported contribution of $100,000.
Deals database PitchBook suggests Ariel has raised $1.3m in convertible debt from Pittsburgh Life Sciences and Innovation Works as well as from Coal Hill Ventures.
Whitcomb said: “We have cracked the code and built a system that for the first time that can manage one of these complex inflammatory diseases at a fundamental level.”
Gibson added: “It is allowing doctors to be more efficient. It is providing the tools to support them.
