The funding will allow Sera to boost the development of its biomarker tests pipeline to predict major conditions of pregnancy
Sera Prognostics will use funds to advance the commercialisation of its blood-based biomarker test called PreTRM test. (Credit: Ahmad Ardity from Pixabay)
Women’s health company Sera Prognostics has secured $100m in Series E financing to advance the commercialisation of its PreTRM test for premature birth risk.
Institutional investors such as Vivo Capital, aMoon Fund and Parian Global, as well as existing investors such as Anthem and Blue Ox Healthcare Partners have participated in the latest financing round.
The PreTRM test is a clinically validated and commercially available blood-based biomarker test, which offers an early, precise and individualised risk prediction for spontaneous preterm birth in asymptomatic singleton pregnancies.
The test, which is used to measure and analyse proteins in the blood, will allow physicians to identify the increased risk of preterm birth during the 19th or 20th week of pregnancy.
Sera will also use the funding to boost the development of its pipeline of biomarker tests to predict other major conditions of pregnancy.
The funding will also allow Sera to develop testing capacity for more than three million annual pregnancies, which are candidates for the company’s PreTRM test in the US.
Sera chairman and CEO Dr Gregory Critchfield said: “I am also very pleased to welcome three new directors to Sera’s board, who I believe add strong complementary skills to Sera’s supervisory leadership: Marcus Wilson, chief analytics officer of Anthem, Elizabeth Canis, Anthem’s vice president of emerging markets and partnerships, and Joe Siletto, managing director of Vivo Capital.
“Our new investors will help us realize our objective of being The Pregnancy Company, focused on improving the health of mothers and newborns by mitigating the consequences of adverse pregnancy outcomes.”
Sera also stated that it intends to leverage its proteomics and bioinformatics platform, including biobank data to characterise pregnancy to develop tools, applications, and services for patients, doctors, payers, researchers, and others.
In addition, the firm is building its specialty Ob/Gyn sales force to sell PreTRM testing to obstetrical practices.