Claritas Announces $15m Funding Round
January 26, 2015 | Claritas Genomics announced today that it has secured $15 million in capital for its Series B round to expand its commercial operations, launch new next generation sequencing-based tests for diagnosis of pediatric genetic disorders and continue to build its network of clinical pediatric disease experts.
WuXi NextCODE Genomics (see, Chinese Services Group WuXi Buys NextCODE) led the investment, joining A round investors Boston Children's Hospital, Cerner Corporation and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, who participated in the B round.
"Claritas is positioned to play a central role in advancing the use of sequence-based testing to improve the diagnosis of rare diseases, said Hannes Smarason, co-founder of NextCODE and now COO of WuXi NextCODE Genomics in the press release. “We are proud to contribute to that effort with our technology and as part of a group of industry-leading stakeholders."
Last month, Claritas Genomics selected NextCODE Health’s integrated clinical and research platform, Clinical Sequence Analyzer, to speed the delivery of genetic test results for its pediatric testing business. Using NextCODE’s unique database architecture, Claritas plans to build a centralized, cloud-based variant database to help solve the toughest cases and discover new disease genes. Claritas and its researchers have developed over a hundred tests for single genes associated with pediatric disorders as well as dynamic whole exome-based tests, all of which have been integrated directly into NextCODE’s clinical interface.
"As we build and deliver integrated solutions to unify the experience of pediatric healthcare for patients with suspected genetic disorders, our dynamic and diverse investor group represents our strengths," said Patrice Milos, Claritas CEO in the statement. "Our work together has the potential to transform children's healthcare, as 40% of pediatric disorders are understood to have a clear genetic basis today."
Today's announcement is the latest in a series of milestones for Claritas, which spun out of Boston Children's Hospital in February 2013.