Cancer diagnostics firm completes £3.5 million funding round

ClinSpec Diagnostics Limited (ClinSpec Dx), the Glasgow-based developer of liquid biopsies for early detection of cancer, has reached its round two funding target of £3.5 million by securing an additional investment of £1.1 million.

The company, which is a spinout from the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde, has recently secured the £1.1m investment from Norcliffe Capital Limited, the University of Strathclyde, Eos Advisory and the founders. The first tranche of the investment (£2.4m) was secured in 2020 and led by Mercia’s EIS Funds with Scottish Enterprise, profit with purpose investor SIS Ventures, Eos Advisory and the University of Strathclyde.

Fast, inexpensive and easy to undertake, the ClinSpec Dx liquid biopsy is a blood test using revolutionary technology based on the world-leading research of Dr Matthew Baker. Through a combination of infra-red light and artificial intelligence, its ‘drop, dry, detect’ technology provides results in minutes.

Worldwide, 26,000 people die from cancer each day. Earlier diagnosis of cancer results in significantly higher survival rates compared to late-stage diagnosis, increasing the availability of treatment options and improving chances of recovery and a better quality of life. The liquid biopsy also has the potential to indicate the type and severity of the tumour, allowing doctors and clinicians to prioritise and fasttrack the most appropriate and effective treatments.

Mark Hegarty, CEO of ClinSpec Dx, said: “Achieving the £3.5m target enables us to accelerate our plans. We will shortly complete our move into new lab and office facilities and increase staffing to 15, bringing forward key operational and commercial appointments. “Our two clinical studies on detection of brain cancer have been successful and papers are in draft for publication over the next 6 months. This, plus the development of our multi-cancer platform covering the most common cancers, will form the bedrock for Series A investment in 2022, with the target of commercial launch in 2024.

“We are also delighted to have further strengthened our leadership team by the appointment of Prof David Onions of Norcliffe Capital to the Board of Directors.”

Professor David Onions, Adviser to Norcliffe Capital, commented: “The team at Norcliffe Capital are delighted to be supporting the next phase of development of Clinspec Dx. Early diagnosis of cancer is critical for effective treatment but can require complex and expensive procedures. Clinspec Dx has developed a revolutionary, rapid, diagnostic system for cancer that only requires a drop of blood. We were very impressed by the results from the clinical studies on brain cancer and the clear strategy of the company; first in widening the range of cancers being examined and then moving to clinical application of the technology after the Series A funding round next year.”

ClinSpec Dx has raised £5.1million to date, including a first round of seed funding in 2019 led by Eos Advisory alongside Mercia’s EIS Funds and Scottish Enterprise, as well as grant funding from the Higgs EDGE Special Award, and from Innovate UK through the precision medicine accelerator fund.

Data: supporting health and wealth

By Andrew Davies, Digital Health Lead, ABHI

Lessons from the pandemic have already been well rehearsed; the shift to remote GP access, the increased use of telehealth to keep people safe in their own homes and the reduction in bureaucracy to enable streamlined sharing of patient data. We must now look at how we can integrate these lessons post-pandemic.

Changes in access to healthcare were enabled by a common purpose, use of derogations in regulations and clarity of risk versus benefit. Not all of these circumstances will remain post-pandemic and new ways of working will need to be established to ensure we maintain these benefits. These may be legislative, cultural and some will inevitably require funding.

It is of particular interest how the pandemic will shape attitudes to sharing data, and in turn, influence legislation. It is widely accepted that data sharing is vital to aid efficient service delivery, support improved outcomes and provide insights for innovation. There are of course legitimate concerns over privacy.

Ensuring legislation works with innovation On 1st January 2021, the UK entered a six-month interim arrangement with the EU on data sharing, with a full decision on adequacy due within that period. This agreement, and (presumably) largely unchanged UK Data Protection rules, will set the overall legislative context for UK data handling. However, there are many calling for flexibilities derived from COPI notices to be enshrined in new information governance rules. Sarah Wilkinson, CEO of NHS Digital, has been quoted as saying: “The current legislation is very labyrinthine and that makes it difficult to have a clear dialogue with a broad cross-section of people, even within the health and care system.” Any changes to legislation that enable a more streamline flow of data across the NHS and helps build critical datasets would be welcome.

Ensuring faster access to care through data The ‘data economy’ in health is hugely prized and the UK has an opportunity to develop an open-data resource that could attract clinicians, academics and industry to help develop next generation solutions to critical health problems, stimulating economic growth and enabling UK health services to reduce the “bench to bedside’ timeline.

Some baulk at the idea of profit from health data but ‘health and wealth’ are two sides of the same coin. Healthcare performance is strongly dependent on the economy. Wealthier countries have healthier populations and it is a basic truth that poverty adversely affects life expectancy. The UK needs to leverage its health assets to the widest possible benefit for its patients, citizens and economy.