Swedish molecular diagnostics firm Immunovia has secured a site in Boston, MA, to establish its U.S. headquarters and CLIA-accredited reference laboratory for eastern U.S. The firm is setting up a U.S operation in anticipation of the projected introduction of its array-based IMMray™ PanCan-d serum diagnostic test for early pancreatic cancer to the U.S. market during in the second half of 2018. Immunovia said the Boston site will also house commercialization operations, including marketing, sales, and customer support. The company has an existing collaboration with Knight Diagnostic Laboratories in Portland, to serve the western U.S.
Commenting on setting up is U.S. operational base, Mats Grahn, Immunovia CEO, stated, “The market introduction of IMMray™ PanCan-d, our blood-based test for earlier detection of pancreatic cancer, is the main focus for Immunovia. We have therefore chosen to establish our U.S. operations headquarters in Boston, which is the major biotech hub in the world. A very experienced laboratory team will be moving into Immunovia´s own reference laboratory that will cover eastern U.S., adding to our commercial group that will also be located at the Boston facilities.”
Immunovia was founded in 2007 by scientists at the Department of Immunotechnology at Sweden’s Lund University and CREATE Health, the Center for Translational Cancer Research in Lund, Sweden. The firm is leveraging a platform based on single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody libraries to develop a pipeline of IMMray biomarker panel assays for cancer and potentially autoimmune disease diagnosis, and for predicting disease progression and monitoring patient responses to treatment.
The firm claims IMMray PanCan-d is the only blood test available for the early and differential diagnosis of stage I and stage II pancreatic cancer, when the disease is still resectable. The assay is currently undergoing late-stage development and is being tested in a number of clinical evidence studies in collaboration with global cancer centers.
