Hayward, California, September 2, 2009 - Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc. (ACD), announced today that it has completed the second closing of its Series A equity financing from Morningside Ventures, bringing the total capital raised in this round to $5.4 million.
ACD will use the funds to accelerate the development of its proprietary diagnostic tests based on the company’s patent pending RNAscope™ technology. “This second closing marks the achievement of our RNAscope™ technology development milestones, including in situ detection of single RNA molecules in blood and FFPE tissues, multiplex analysis, and full assay automation.” said Dr. Yuling Luo, Founder, President and CEO of ACD, “We can now offer our world class assay development expertise in RNA analysis for biomarker validation and companion diagnostic development in partnership with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.”
“We are pleased to be in partnership with ACD and are excited about the tremendous potential of RNAscope™ technology. ACD has made impressive and speedy progress in RNAscope™ technology development, achieving all of its milestones,” commented Morningside co-founder, Dr. Gerald Chan. “RNAscope™ technology has great promise to shorten the path to targeted therapeutic development, hastening fulfillment of the vision of personalized medicine.”
About Advanced Cell Diagnostics (www.acdbio.com) Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc. (ACD) is a leader in the emerging field of molecular pathology, developing cell- and tissue-based diagnostic tests for personalized medicine. The company’s products and services are based on its proprietary RNAscope™ technology, the first multiplex fluorescent and chromogenic in situ hybridization platform capable of detecting and quantifying RNA biomarkers in situ at single molecule sensitivity. ACD partners with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to validate biomarkers for targeted therapeutic development in cancer and other diseases. These partnerships provide the foundation for ACD to develop companion diagnostic tests in conjunction with partners’ targeted therapeutics. ACD also pursues internal programs to develop proprietary diagnostic tests in cancer management.
About Morningside
Morningside is a diversified investment group founded in 1986 by the Chan family of Hong Kong. It is engaged primarily in private equity and venture capital investments. The group has investments in North America, Europe, across Asia-Pacific, and since 1992, in Mainland China. Morningside was one of the earliest institutional investors in China’s internet industry and in recent years has been an active investor in China’s emerging biotechnology sector.
ACD to exhibit at AMP 2009
ACD will showcase its RNAscope™ technology and applications on the Association for Molecular Pathology 2009 Annual Meeting to be held on November 19-22, 2009, The Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, Kissimmee, FL, USA. Visit us at Booth 1125.
http://www.amp.org/2009
