Healthtech company Sano Genetics has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round to help it expand its patient recruitment technology.
Sano Genetics has developed a software platform that connects patients living with rare and chronic conditions with biotech and pharma companies leading personalised medicine research. Participants use an at-home DNA test, the results of which Sano Genetics use to connect users with research they could be suitable for.
The platform has been developed to help pharmaceutical companies speed up the development of new medicines and also to improve the experience for those taking part in potentially life-changing research.
Participants using the platform receive regular updates as well as insights based on their genetic profiles and have total control over their data from the intuitive, private-by-design user interface.
Sano Genetics will now use the money to expand its platform and to grow its team in the US and Europe. Sano Genetics is aiming to develop its platform so it can meet demand in over 50 diseases and more than six countries by mid 2023.
Sano Genetics previously raised £3M in seed funding to develop the platform and bring in industry customers and partners including precision medicine developers BenevolentAI, ESCAPE Bio, and population-scale cohorts such as the NIHR BioResource.
Official comments
Dr Patrick Short, CEO and co-founder of Sano Genetics, said: “It still takes 10 to 15 years for new drugs to reach patients, and many will never make it out of R&D because costs are prohibitive. This funding takes us closer to our mission to build the platform that we, and many others – patients and researchers – wish was available a decade ago. One that will make research much faster, more cost-effective, and a vastly better experience for patients.”
Charlotte Barttelot, investor at MMC Ventures, who led the funding round, added: “Since meeting Patrick and the Sano team, we have been consistently impressed with their unwavering purpose-led strategy to promote access to, and the success of, personalised medicine. To deliver on the promise of this new approach to treatment, there is an urgent need to solve the largest problems in clinical trials: patient recruitment and engagement. This is where Sano’s innovative software platform, which allows them to interact directly with patients, biotech and broader healthcare communities, can be transformational for the future of personalised medicine.”
