Myconostica attracts £1.7M in first close of fourth investment round

Funding round closes

Manchester University spin-out Myconostica Ltd, a specialist in rapid and highly specific tests for life-threatening fungal infections, has raised £1.7 million in the first close of its fourth investment round.

The funds will be used to launch further molecular diagnostic products and increase the number of real-time PCR platforms on which Myconostica’s tests can operate.

Current diagnostic methods for invasive fungal infections are slow and insufficiently specific to ensure optimal care of patients. Earlier this year Myconostica launched a real-time PCR kit, MycAssay Pneumocystis, for the detection of pneumocystis, a major cause of pneumonia in AIDS. Using this test in conjunction with Myconostica’s DNA extraction system, MycXtra, a result can be obtained in under 3 hours. The company shortly plans to launch a test to identify Aspergillus infections, a major cause of mortality in leukaemia and transplant patients, and a rapid identification system for fungi found in blood.

Myconostica, formed in 2006 as a spin-out from Manchester University, has since attracted a global venture capital investor base, and is developing and commercialising tests based on highly specific genetic signatures unique to each disease, to allow faster and much more precise identification. These molecular diagnostics tests are simple, rapid and can detect multiple fungi in a single process.