A consortium involving public-private partnership HTGF has supplied funding to University of Bremen spinout Mirdetect to help a molecular diagnostics blood draw for testicular cancer.
Mirdetect, a Germany-based testicular cancer blood test developer spun out of University of Bremen, has attracted a seven-figure euro sum (€1m = $1.1m) in a seed round backed by public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds.
BAB Beteiligungs-und Managementgesellschaft Bremen, an investment subsidiary of local development bank BAB, also took part in the round alongside an unnamed private investor.
Founded in 2016, Mirdetect is working on a molecular diagnostics test for testicular cancer – the most common malignant disease in men aged between 20 and 45 – that works by looking for markers associated with tumours.
Mirdetect claims the test will provide accurate diagnoses in 90% to 95% of cases, compared with approximately 50% for earlier marker-based exams. A similar approach could in future be developed to identify tumour markers for other cancer types.
The spinout now hopes to further develop its product and target market, having already validated its theory with unspecified physicians in Europe.
Mirdetect builds on research started at University of Bremen’s Centre for Human Genetics by biologists Meike Spiekermann, Nina Winter and human geneticist Gazanfer Belge. Urologist Klaus-Peter Dieckmann joined Spiekermann, Winter and Belge to start the company.
