USA – Haystack Oncology, a Baltimore, MD-based oncology company, raised $56M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Catalio Capital Management, with participation from Bruker, Exact Ventures, and Alexandria Venture Investments. As part of this round, Isaac Ro, former Chief Financial Officer of Thrive Earlier Detection (acquired by Exact Sciences in 2020), has joined Haystack’s Board of Directors as Executive Chairman, and Dr. Diamantis Xylas, Catalio’s Head of Research, has joined the Board as an observer, alongside Catalio’s founders, George Petrocheilos and Dr. Jacob Vogelstein, who also serve on the Board.The company intends to use the funds for the continued development and planned 2023 commercialization of its personalized cancer diagnostic test that can detect as few as one mutant molecule in a million DNA molecules. Co-founded in 2021 by Drs. Bert Vogelstein, Ken Kinzler and Nick Papadopoulos, and Mr. Joshua Cohen of Johns Hopkins University, alongside CEO Dan Edelstein and CTO Dr. Frank Holtrup, Haystack uses the circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection technology to see through the noise and uncover the lowest levels of ctDNA in blood to report residual, recurrent, or resistant disease earlier than any other minimal residual disease (MRD) test. Its ctDNA-based MRD testing platform, Haystack Duo™, is a low-error rate, next-generation chemistry that enables ultrasensitive and personalized MRD testing. Haystack’s tumor-informed liquid-biopsy-based test begins with tissue-based whole-exome sequencing to identify patient-specific tumor mutations. A personalized MRD test is then developed to detect ctDNA from residual, recurrent or resistant disease.The company is based in Baltimore, MD, USA, and has research facilities in Hamburg, Germany.16/11/2022
