MedGenome Labs Ltd., a genetic diagnostics firm on Monday said that it has completed its series C round of funding at $40 million, bringing in new investors - HDFC Ltd., HDFC Life and HDFC Asset Management. Last August, the company had already raised $30 million from investors including Sequoia Capital and Sofina SA.
The Bengaluru-based firm would use the money to expand the clinical genomic testing market by penetrating all the Tier II and Tier III cities. The firm said it aims to democratize the critical genetic tests like noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPT) and newborn genetic testing.
“We believe understanding genetic information can have a big impact on Indian healthcare industry through early detection of disease risk and development of new medicines,” said Deepak Parekh, chairman of HDFC Group, in a statement. “We are very happy to see an Indian company take a lead in a deep technology area like genomics and have decided to support MedGenome in its endeavour to make genetic tests affordable and accessible widely,” said Mr.Parekh.
MedGenome said it has completed over 100,000 genomic tests and supported clinicians in diagnosing more than 40% unresolved cases. About 6% of the children born in India have inherited pediatric diseases which is double the worldwide occurrence rate, according to the firm.
"MedGenome’s goal is to significantly reduce the burden of inherited diseases in India and assist clinicians in implementing precision medicine,” said Sam Santhosh, founder and chairman of MedGenome, in a statement.
The firm said its genetic diagnostics tests include the first proprietary liquid biopsy (OncoTrack) for monitoring cancer treatment. It also does non-invasive prenatal screening test (NIPT) for pregnant women, carrier screening for couples planning for children, and whole exome sequencing, a genomic technique, for identification of rare mutations.
