The funding will support commercialization of the company’s extracellular vesicle-based liquid biopsy tests, starting with ovarian cancer screening.
Mercy BioAnalytics has closed a $59 million Series B financing round to advance its extracellular vesicle-based liquid biopsy platform for early cancer detection, with initial focus on ovarian cancer screening tests.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company’s financing was co-led by Novalis and Sozo Ventures, with participation from Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund, American Cancer Society BrightEdge, and iSelect Fund. Strategic investors in the round included laboratory services companies Hologic, Bruker Scientific, and Labcorp.
The funding will primarily support commercialization of Mercy’s blood-based ovarian cancer test portfolio, designed to detect ovarian cancer at earlier stages across multiple indications. The company’s Mercy Halo ovarian cancer screening test demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for detecting pre-clinical high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma in post-menopausal women based on a blinded evaluation of samples from a randomized controlled trial.
“This financing accelerates our efforts to bring transformative early cancer detection tests to patients and providers,” says Dawn Mattoon, PhD, chief executive officer of Mercy, in a release. “We are grateful for the support of our investors and proud to partner with those who share our mission to save lives and relieve suffering through the early detection of cancer.”
Technology Platform and Clinical Applications
The Mercy Halo liquid biopsy platform uses biomarker co-localization to analyze blood-based extracellular vesicles that carry cancer signatures from their cell of origin. The technology is designed to detect early-stage cancer when it is most treatable.
Beyond ovarian cancer, the funding will enable expansion of the Mercy Halo portfolio to include multi-cancer and lung cancer screening tests. The company’s initial focus targets ovarian cancer, described as the most lethal gynecological cancer that typically goes undetected until advanced stages, and lung cancer, which causes more deaths globally than breast and prostate cancers combined.
“We believe Mercy is building one of the most promising early detection platforms in oncology,” says Paul Meister, partner at Novalis, in a release. “Their technology addresses a critical gap in current cancer screening, and we’re excited to support the team as they continue to deliver on critical regulatory, clinical, and commercial milestones.”
Rob Freelen, managing director and investment partner at Sozo Ventures, joined Mercy’s board of directors coincident with the financing. “Sozo is proud to co-lead this round and help usher in a new generation of cancer diagnostics with the potential to save lives at scale,” says Freelen in a release.
The Series B round positions Mercy to advance its liquid biopsy tests through regulatory and clinical milestones toward potential commercial launch in the clinical laboratory market.
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