Cytox, a UK-based genetics prognosis platform spun out from University of Birmingham, has received £2.6m ($3.4m) in funding from a consortium featuring University of Oxford.
UK government-backed commercialisation vehicle Rainbow Seed Fund, managed by VC firm Midven, also took part as did local government-backed initiative GM&C Life Sciences Fund, overseen by VC firm Catapult Ventures.
Commitments were also secured from Perivoli Innovations, the intellectual property-focused arm of philanthropic office Perivoli Trust, and undisclosed backers.
Cytox is developing a genetics-based prognosis test for Alzheimer’s disease – an untreatable brain condition that causes dementia – to enable researchers to predict the likelihood of each study participant developing the disease.
The prognosis utilises 130,000 biomarkers and software-based interpretation.
Cytox is based on research by Zsuzsanna Nagy, a senior lecturer at University of Birmingham’s Institute of Inflammation and Ageing. It exploits the theory that nerve cells called neurons, when healthy, experience the same lifecycle as other cells.
Earlier hypothesis argued neurons, which exchange nerve signals with the brain, never went through the cycle.
The capital will be used to prepare trials of the prognosis at a clinical-standard US laboratory and to market the product to dementia drug developers. Additional cash will aid further development so the test might potentially identify different forms of dementia.
David Whitcombe, a partner at VC firm Catapult Ventures, will act as a non-executive director on the Cytox board.
Cytox disclosed $5.5m in funding in 2013 from University of Birmingham, fund manager Spark Impact, life science fund Esperante, seed investor Wren Capital and individual investor Jim Mellon.
Deals database PitchBook suggests Cytox has now raised $13.41m in total, while local newspaper Birmingham Post claimed the spinout had received $3.16m by 2011 from backers including Midven, research charity Nesta and unspecified business angels.
Richard Pither, chief executive of Cytox, said: “I am extremely pleased to welcome Catapult Ventures as a new investor in Cytox and David to the board.
“David’s expertise in genetics, diagnostics and developing strong commercial partnerships will be extremely valuable to Cytox as we seek to commercialise our services for testing for Alzheimer’s disease and grow Cytox as a leader in this area.”