Oxford spin-out Cytos raises £600K in lead up to first round

Funding

Cytox Ltd, a neuroscience company that provides blood biomarker services to the pharmaceutical industry for Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials, has announced the completion of a pre-Series A funding round of £600,000.

The proceeds will be used to advance commercialisation of the company’s biomarker testing services for Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The biomarkers help confirm the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, predict which patients with MCI will go on to develop Alzheimer’s, and provide information about an individual’s likely responses to drug therapy.

While a certain percentage of patients presenting with MCI will go onto to develop Alzheimer’s disease, many will not. Making it possible to identify patients at the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease will enable companies to select likely responders in clinical trials. There are currently 65 drugs for treating Alzheimer’s at various stages of clinical development.

Cytox’s tests require only a single blood sample, which is significantly less invasive than tests requiring cerebrospinal fluid and quicker and cheaper than repeated imaging techniques.

Cytox’s blood biomarkers have been validated for use in FDA trials in a recent clinical study, conducted in collaboration with the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Aging (OPTIMA) and supported by a grant from the regional development agency Advantage West Midlands. Future clinical trials are in planning to support FDA approval of the blood tests as a diagnostic test of dementia risk.

Management and existing UK investors were joined in the round by MASA Life Sciences LP, the first US institutional investor, and US angels, including Jim Foght, who joins the company as an advisor.

Richard Hadden, CEO of Cytox, added, “I am delighted at the continued support we have enjoyed from existing investors and management and I welcome our new investors, who bring valuable pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry relationships in Asia and the US.”