Biogazelle runs towards $2.5m

Biogazelle, a biotech spin-out of Ghent University, has secured an investment of €2m ($2.5m) in a round including investors Qbic Arkiv Fund, Foundation Majoie, and Sofi.

The spin-out was created in 2007 to commercialise software and offer lab services for gene expression analysis. Its lab services include RNA sequencing, and the company will use the fresh funding to establish its own research efforts into RNA targets for certain kinds of cancer.

The company has been expanding significantly since its incorporation with an annual growth rate of 70%. It is now looking towards continuing this success by also expanding internationally.

Jo Vandesompele, chief scientific officer and co-founder, said: “RNA-based therapeutics, in particular long non-coding RNAs, constitute a very promising area for the development of a new type of anti-cancer medicines. Because of our expertise and know-how, and because the traditional pharmaceutical industry is not yet very active in this domain, it offers exquisite opportunities for Biogazelle. We will prioritise top candidate RNA targets, followed by high-throughput testing in our lab using anti-sense silencing technology.”