A Cork biotech firm has raised $2m for a revolutionary test to cut deaths during pregnancy

CORK BIOTECH COMPANY Metabolomic Diagnostics has raised $2 million in funding to bring to market a blood test that will help cut the risk of babies and mothers dying during pregnancy.

The five-year-old company is developing a screening test for first-time mothers that will provide an early warning for those likely to suffer from a condition called pre-eclampsia.

The disorder is characterised by new episodes of high blood pressure later in a pregnancy and is one of the leading causes of death for both women and their babies before a birth.

Metabolomic Diagnostics’ technology, a blood test called PrePsia, will indicate which women are at risk of developing pre-eclampsia during their pregnancies.

The test will give doctors the scope to come up with intervention plans for their pregnant patients, ultimately saving lives that would have been lost if the condition went undetected.

The latest funding, which will be used to commercialise the technology, comes from existing backers SOSV, Enterprise Equity and Enterprise Ireland, alongside several other private investors.

The company previously raised €750,000 from SOSV, then known as SOSventures, and the AIB Seed Capital Fund, among others. University College Cork, where the technology was first developed, also holds shares, as does the test’s inventor, INFANT Research Centre director Louise Kenny.

It uses a computer algorithm to pick up patterns in blood tests that point to a high likelihood women will develop the condition.

Metabolic Diagnostics CEO Charley Garvey, right

Certification then revenue

Metabolomic Diagnostics CEO Charles Garvey said the new funding would allow the company to complete the test in its lab and get European certification so it could start generating its first revenue next year.

Company filings show the biotech firm had accumulated losses of nearly €550,000 at the end of 2014, although it also had more than €750,000 in cash on hand at the time.

The business, which currently employs 12 people, also announced Jim Walsh, the executive director of $240 billion Nasdaq-listed Trinity Biotech, was joining its board.

The Bray resident is a serial investor in med-tech companies, previously backing Limerick firm Gencell and serving as chief executive at Stokes Bio, both of which were sold for significant sums.

Walsh said the technology Metabolomic Diagnostics was developing was of “enormous global significance”.

“In the modern world, there is no excuse for having a medical complication that can result in the deaths of otherwise healthy mothers and their unborn babies,” he said.

Correction: We were previously told Metabolomic Diagnostics had raised €2 million, however we’ve since been advised the figure was $2 million (about €1.8 million).