OREANDA-NEWS. January 28, 2016. Cambridge Innovation Capital ("CIC"), a Cambridge-based investor in high-growth technology and healthcare companies, has made a further commitment to one of its healthcare portfolio companies, Inivata Limited ("Inivata"), by participating in a Series A fundraising together with existing investors Imperial Innovations, Johnson and Johnson Innovation and new investor Woodford Patient Capital Trust. Following completion of this 31.5 million funding round CIC will own in excess of 22%, on a fully diluted basis, of Inivata.

Inivata is a clinical cancer genomics company employing the precision of circulating tumour DNA ("ctDNA") analysis to improve personalized healthcare in oncology.The new funds will be used to accelerate clinical studies to validate Inivata's technology platform based on enhanced TAm-Seq, and commercialize its first products. Inivata's platform will initially be applied across a spectrum of solid tumours, including lung, breast and colon cancer, to demonstrate the integration of genomic information with clinically actionable decision-making, thereby defining a personalized approach to cancer care.

Inivata's proprietary technology represents a new generation of non-invasive molecular profiling from a simple blood draw that is poised to impact the major aspects of a patient's care including diagnosis, prognosis, treatment stratification and response monitoring. The test, which allows precise analysis of cancer-related mutations present in ctDNA, is designed to provide oncologists with clinically actionable genomic information which can guide therapy selection, monitor treatment progress and, importantly, detect new mutations as they emerge. The genomic analysis of ctDNA has the potential to transform cancer care and resolve many of the limitations inherent in current tissue-based testing protocols that are highly invasive and are not amenable to serial monitoring in routine practice.  Inivata's platform is based on pioneering research from the Rosenfeld Lab at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK-CI) and to date, has demonstrated putative clinical utility of enhanced TAm-Seq through published clinical work presented at multiple cancer conferences in the autumn of 2015.

"We have been impressed with the results from Inivata's initial clinical studies that highlight the sensitivity and accuracy of the company's ctDNA platform. Inivata is already working with a strong network of clinicians in both Europe and the United States and this new funding will allow the company to accelerate its clinical validation and commercialisation efforts," said Robert Tansley, Investment Director, Healthcare, at Cambridge Innovation Capital.