Personalized Medicine Company to Expand Marketing and Product Development for Neuropsychiatric Pharmacogenetics
CINCINNATI, March 25, 2011 – AssureRx Health, Inc. today announced the closing of an $11 million Series B financing. The personalized medicine company, which provides clinically-relevant information to help physicians select the right drug for individual neuropsychiatric patients, will use the funds to expand direct sales and marketing for its first product, GeneSightRx®, and for second generation product development activities.
The financing was led by Claremont Creek Ventures and Sequoia Capital and included participation of existing investors Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Mayo Clinic and CincyTech, as well as new investor Allos Ventures. John Steuart and Dr. Brad Webb of Claremont Creek Ventures have joined the AssureRx board of directors, increasing board membership to seven.
“Our goal is to build the leading medical informatics company providing pharmacogenetic and other treatment decision support products to help physicians individualize the treatment of patients with neuropsychiatric and other disorders,” said James S. Burns, president and CEO of AssureRx. “Claremont Creek and Sequoia bring to AssureRx a wealth of experience and capabilities in informatics, life science, internet marketing, and international business development. Their investment brings substantial strength to our medical informatics platform.”
Steuart, managing director of Claremont Creek said, “Venture capital firms such as ours see the opportunity for disruptive change springing from new discoveries in human genetics. AssureRx has enormous potential as an early leader in the transformation of neuropsychiatric treatment toward individualized patient treatment. GeneSightRx and future treatment decision support products hold the promise for faster, better patient outcomes and less costly care for psychiatric conditions such as clinical depression, anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia.”
Warren Hogarth, partner at Sequoia Capital, said, “AssureRx products have the potential to provide significant assistance to physicians worldwide in selecting the appropriate medication for their patients. AssureRx is at the cutting edge of this trend as they address a very large existing market. We look forward to helping them build a world class company.”
From a simple cheek swab, the GeneSightRx technology measures and analyzes clinically important genetic variants that determine how a patient’s unique genetic make-up affects his or her ability to tolerate or effectively respond to psychotropic medications. Patient-specific genetic information obtained through GeneSightRx can assist physicians in the process of selecting appropriate antidepressant and antipsychotic medications for individual patients.
About Claremont Creek Ventures
Claremont Creek Ventures turbocharges the uncommon startup. As a seed and early stage venture firm, it embraces emerging technologies that accelerate company success, specifically in the healthcare/ IT, energy conservation, and security markets. Utilizing a proprietary life-cycle venturing program, it partners with East-Bay corridor-based entrepreneurs and institutions, including UC Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore Labs and UC Davis. Claremont Creek has more than $300 million in capital under management in two funds. CCV healthcare/IT investments include Gene Security Networks, Fluxion Biosciences, Tibion and Geneweave Biosciences. For more information, visit www.claremontcreek.com.
About Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital provides venture capital funding to founders of startups who want to turn business ideas into enduring companies. As the “Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs”, Sequoia Capital’s Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of NetApp, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of NVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube, Dominic Orr and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Networks, Jonathan Kaplan of Pure Digital, Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Omar Hamoui of Admob and Steve Streit of Green Dot. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com/us/healthcare.
About AssureRx Health, Inc.
AssureRx Health, Inc. is a personalized medicine company that specializes in pharmacogenomics dedicated to helping physicians determine the right drug for individual patients suffering from neuropsychiatric and other disorders. The company was founded to commercialize industry-leading personalized medicine technology for neuropsychiatric disorders. Mayo Clinic and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center are equity holders and technology collaborators.