Cancer Diagnostics Company, On-Q-ity, Raises $21M in Series A Funding for the Development of Technologies to Personalize Cancer Therapy

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Tue Nov 3, 2009 10:04am EST

Cancer Diagnostics Company, On-Q-ity, Raises $21M in Series A Funding for the
Development of Technologies to Personalize Cancer Therapy
Former President of Genzyme Genetics to Lead Company Developing Products to
Predict and Monitor Cancer Treatment Effectiveness




WALTHAM, Mass, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- On-Q-ity, a next-generation oncology
diagnostics company focused on improving cancer therapy effectiveness,
announced today that it has closed a $21 million series A financing.  The
funding was led by MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures and included Bessemer Venture
Partners, Physic Ventures and Northgate Capital. 

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070702/AQM026LOGO)

On-Q-ity is developing diagnostics to determine optimal treatment choice for
cancer patients at each stage of the treatment cycle - from the first therapy
choice to monitoring for recurrence. The company's novel circulating tumor
cell (CTC) technology and predictive biomarker platform allows for the
analysis of tumor tissue samples as well as the capture of rare tumors cells
that are circulating in a cancer patient's blood.  Those cells are then
monitored for molecular changes that are characteristic of therapy response.
This combination enables minimally invasive real-time data on a patient's
status - allowing treatment adjustments before changes are visible with any
other technology. 

Mara Aspinall is President and Chief Executive Officer of On-Q-ity and a
leader in the fields of diagnostics, oncology and personalized medicine.
Formerly president of Genzyme Genetics, she expanded the business' scope and
market reach to become one of the nation's largest diagnostic laboratories.
She described On-Q-ity's technology as a paradigm shift in cancer care,
explaining, "We will enable physicians to confidently choose effective therapy
and then actively monitor their patients' treatment response or resistance. By
using CTCs and predictive DNA repair biomarkers, we can help quickly determine
if a therapy is working and reduce the cost as well as the loss of critical
time associated with ineffective treatments.  Through ongoing personalized
diagnosis, we hope to improve patient care and, ultimately, increase survival
rates."

Sue Siegel, MDV Partner and On-Q-ity board member, added, "Mara has been at
the forefront of personalized medicine and has a proven ability to bring new
diagnostics to market.  We are excited that the combination of a strong
seasoned team and On-Q-ity's arsenal of proprietary technologies can play a
key role in our nation's war on cancer and improve patient care while reducing
healthcare costs."

In addition to Siegel, Steve Kraus from Bessemer Venture Partners and Dion
Madsen from Physic Ventures will join the On-Q-ity board of directors.

About On-Q-ity

On-Q-ity is a next-generation diagnostics company focused on transforming
cancer treatment and improving treatment outcomes for cancer patients. The
Company is developing innovative diagnostics to identify the unique
characteristics of an individual's cancer, predicting the response to therapy,
and monitoring the progress of treatment. On-Q-ity was formed earlier this
year through the merger of Cellective DX, a developer of microfluidics devices
to detect and capture rare circulating tumor cells from the blood of cancer
patients, with The DNA Repair Company, a molecular diagnostics company
developing biomarker panels to predict response to cancer therapy based on DNA
repair pathways in tumors.

The company's CTC and biomarker technologies originated from ground-breaking
research at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer
Institute and MIT, respectively. The privately-held company, headquartered in
Waltham, MA, is funded by Bessemer Venture Partners, MDV-Mohr Davidow
Ventures, Physic Ventures and Northgate Capital. For more information, visit:
www.On-Q-ity.com.



SOURCE  MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures

Pamela Mahoney of MDV, +1-650-854-7236, pmahoney@mdv.com; or Terri Clevenger,
+1-203-227-0209, tclevenger@continuumhealthcom.com, or Stephanie Ashe,
+1-650-728-7087, stephanie@continuumhealthcare.com, both for On-Q-ity
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