Boston-based biomedical software company BostonGene has secured a $50m Series A strategic investment from Tokyo-based IT services and products provider NEC to support scaling and precision medicine computing platform for cancer treatment.

25Apr - NEC

Image: BostonGene has secured a $50m series A strategic investment from. Photo: Courtesy of Tumisu from Pixabay.

Founded in 2015, BostonGene has developed biomedical software solutions for use in advanced patient analysis, and evaluated its solution in close collaboration with many cancer centers across the US.

It has also discovered and patented a holistic approach to cancer treatment with optimal therapy combination for individual patients focusing on immuno- and targeted therapies.

BostonGene president and CEO Andrew Feinberg said: “Transforming and personalizing medicine, from treating a diagnosis to treating the person, is becoming a reality with BostonGene’s unique breakthrough platform.

“Our early successes validate the market need and the potential of our solution to truly transform cancer treatment and dramatically improve patients’ chances for survival and quality of life.

“An investment of this magnitude will support our vision, mission and strategy, as well as the formation of synergies with the NEC Health Tech business to create meaningful new opportunities.”

The company has developed solutions, including genome and transcriptome sequencing methods to create a patient’s molecular profile, and algorithms that estimate the immune fitness and cancer characteristics of a patient.

In addition, a continuously updated expert-curated and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven database of cancer research and clinical information was developed, along with cloud-native software for choosing best treatment options based on comprehensive data analysis of the tumor and its microenvironment.

The funding from NEC is expected to boost the BostonGene’s long-term strategy of expanding its development efforts, advancing collaboration programs, and supporting the growth of its talented and diverse team.

NEC senior vice president and innovation unit business head Osamu Fujikawa said: “As demonstrated by its remarkable growth and early widespread adoption, BostonGene is leading the precision medicine market in the innovation and development of a mission-critical computing platform.

“NEC and BostonGene share a common vision of the immense potential of an AI-driven approach to cancer immunotherapy. Leveraging the strengths of both companies we will be able to improve the survival rate and quality of life for cancer patients.”