Launch of OncoDNA(Gosselies, Belgium) to focus entirely on personalized DNA sequencing of cancer patients.

Biotech products Diagnostics Home_Spotlight — 14 December 2012

The company will focus entirely on personalized DNA sequencing* of cancer patients. Detiffe, a former CEO and founder of DNAVision, recently announced the launch of OncoDNA(Gosselies, Belgium) after receiving funding of more than €2 million ($2.6 million) from public and private investors, including Bio.be (a subsidiary of the Institute of Pathology and Genetics) and Sambrinvest.

The technological revolution that DNA sequencing has experienced over the last five years due to innovation in scientific technologies has had a profound impact on the medical market. With such rapidly moving developments, Detiffe recognized there was a need in the market to deliver a more personally oriented product, taking in account the specific genome of the patient’s tumor. OncoDNA’s aim will be to provide medical innovations based on targeted sequencing or complete sequencing of tumor genomes, in order to assist medical doctors in their treatment choices and/or provide better monitoring in regard to the development of the patient’s tumor.

The company hopes to become a European reference for personalized analysis in oncology, based on the analysis of tumor DNA retrieved from patients. The services will focus on providing innovative analyses to private hospitals, research centers as well as pharmaceutical clients. OncoDNA is already operational and actively performing services that combine the classic approaches of anatomo-pathological cancer analyses with the deep sequencing of a cancer gene panel using the state-of-the-art Ion Torrent technology. This technology offers OncoDNA the ability to work on a wide range of cancer panels and exomes that are challenged by extremely short and aggressive diagnostic deadlines. In line with this innovative technology, sits a highly experienced team of scientists specializing in sequencing and oncology giving good reason to believe that OncoDNA has the credibility and expertise to successfully deliver their services.

Support for their launch has been widespread among both public and private investors who have made contributions totaling over 2 Million EUR to date. The company is also supported by the Public Service of Wallonia (SPW) in the development of a new product that will soon be produced by OncoDNA. It’s exciting to know this newly developed Belgian company and its highly specialized team of scientists, focused on providing personalized DNA sequencing of cancer patients to assist patients, hospitals and research centers with their early diagnoses, could potentially lead to earlier or even pre-cancer treatment options for many patients.

*DNA sequencing: the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a strand of DNA.

Support from shareholders and private investors included:
• The Institute of Pathology and Genetics (IPG) as a partner-shareholder via its subsidiary Bio.be (note: IPG ranks n°3 in Europe in terms of volume of pathological and genetic analyses),
• Sambrinvest (a “venture capital risk” fund investing in SME’s active in Charleroi Belgium region),
• Jean Stephenne (former President of GSK Vaccines),
• François Blondel (former CEO of IBt, a medical device company active in cancer treatment by brachytherapy).