$6.8M CARB-X award plus $6.4M Series B led by Omnimed will help bring new technology to the fight against drug resistance.
AUSTIN, Texas, February 4, 2020 – Pattern Bioscience, Inc., formerly operating as Klaris Diagnostics, today announced $13M in funding for the development of its Digital CultureTM technology, a rapid bacterial identification and susceptibility testing (ID/AST) platform.
The funding includes a non-dilutive award of up to $6.8M from CARB-X, a global non-profit partnership dedicated to accelerating early stage antibacterial R&D to address the rising global threat of drug-resistant bacteria. Under the terms of the CARB-X award, when Pattern achieves certain development milestones, the company will be eligible for up to an additional $15.1M. The total potential award represents one of the largest from CARB-X since it was launched in 2016.
Pattern has also closed $6.4M in Series B funding, led by Omnimed Capital, a healthcare focused venture capital firm based in Dallas. All funding will enable the company to expand its team and facilities and to advance product development as it works toward FDA clearance of its patented clinical microbiology diagnostics platform.
“We can’t imagine a better partner than CARB-X to carry out our shared mission, and we’re honored by this recognition of our unique potential to transform antibiotic treatment decisions,” said Nick Arab, Pattern Co-founder and CEO. “We’re also pleased by the continued support of our lead investor, Omnimed Capital. This funding will allow our remarkable and growing team to advance development of Pattern’s life-saving technology.”
Today, physicians must often prescribe antibiotics days before test results are available. As a result, up to 50% of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals are inappropriate, according to the CDC. Faster bacterial tests reduce the risk of antibiotic misuse and enable focused treatment, improving patient outcomes and reducing selective pressures that lead to drug resistance. Pattern hopes to eliminate the guesswork by providing definitive test results within four hours from a simple test. Its technology combines single cell analysis with deep learning artificial intelligence to recognize bacteria and to predict drug susceptibility. The system, which produces millions of measurements per run, will zoom in on real-time drug response and observe how individual bacterial cells respond to a possible therapy. “Rapid diagnostics are urgently needed to improve the treatment of drug-resistant infections. They can provide vital information about the bacteria causing an infection and take the guess-work out of treatment decisions in the first critical hours of illness,” said Erin Duffy, Chief of Research and Development of CARB-X, which is based at Boston University School of Law. “Currently, it can take days of laboratory testing to diagnose a lethal bacterial infection. Faster ID/AST diagnosis, like Pattern’s diagnostic, if successful and eventually approved for use in patients, will enable medical staff to treat infections quickly with appropriate antibiotics.”
About Pattern
Pattern Bioscience is a privately held in vitro diagnostics company founded in 2016 to help combat the problem of antibiotic resistance. Pattern is developing a next-generation clinical microbiology platform based on its patented phenotypic single-cell technology that can rapidly identify pathogens and determine their antibiotic response without the need for traditional time-consuming culture steps. Pattern’s Digital CultureTM technology relies on functional endpoints that encompass all possible resistance mechanisms, resulting in more comprehensive and reliable diagnoses compared to rapid genotypic tests. The platform will deliver more reliable diagnoses days faster than the current standard of care.
About CARB-X
Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) is a global non-profit partnership dedicated to accelerating early stage antibacterial R&D to address the rising global threat of drug-resistant bacteria. CARB-X is investing up to $500 million between 2016 and 2021 to support innovative antibiotics, vaccines, rapid diagnostics, and other life-saving products. CARB-X focuses exclusively on high-priority drug-resistant bacteria, especially Gram-negatives. The scope of CARB-X funding is restricted to projects that target drug-resistant bacteria highlighted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s 2013 Antibiotic Resistant Threats list, or the Priority Bacterial Pathogens list published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017 – with a priority on those pathogens deemed Serious or Urgent on the CDC list or Critical or High on the WHO list. CARB-X is led by Boston University. CARB-X funding is provided by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Wellcome Trust, a global charity based in the UK working to improve health globally, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with in-kind support from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). CARB-X is headquartered at Boston University School of Law. https://carb-x.org. Follow us on Twitter @CARB_X.
About Omnimed Capital
Omnimed Capital specializes in venture capital and private equity healthcare investments. Omnimed’s investment strategy is grounded in the view that healthcare is transitioning toward personalized care and prevention tailored to specific circumstances, diseases and patient individualities. The Principals of Omnimed, a Concorde Company, have invested in numerous successful healthcare services and medical technologies.
Media Contact:
Kyle Fieleke
Email: kyle@pattern.bio
Twitter: @Patternbio
Web: https://pattern.bio