Owlstone Medical Secures $15 Million Led by Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures to Advance Non-Invasive Cancer Diagnosis via Breath Biopsy

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that in-vitro diagnostics company Owlstone Medical recently announced a $15 million financing round, led by Horizons Ventures, the private investment fund under Li Ka-shing, with participation from existing investors such as Aviva Ventures. Including two financing rounds last year, Owlstone Medical’s total funding has now reached $31.5 million.

Owlstone Medical's Historical Financing

It is reported that the funds will be used to drive the global commercialization of the BreathBiopsy platform, support the market launch of its breath biopsy test for lung cancer, significantly expand the early detection product pipeline for multiple cancers, and further advance the integration of its precision medicine services into the pharmaceutical industry.

Owlstone Medical is a UK-based in vitro diagnostics company founded in 2004. It primarily focuses on non-invasive diagnostics for cancer, inflammatory diseases, and infectious diseases, with the aim of saving 100,000 lives and $1.5 billion in healthcare costs.

The company’s founder and CEO, Billy Boyle, graduated from the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He was one of the original founders of Owlstone Inc., a spin-off from the University of Cambridge in 2004. The company has reportedly raised $28 million in investment and secured over $25 million in defense contracts.

At Owlstone, Billy was responsible for the sales of FAIMS (microchip chemical sensor technology) products and secured contracts with more than 150 clients worldwide, including Agilent, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Roche Diagnostics, Samsung, GSK, 4D Pharma, Mayo Clinic, and the NHS.

Billy truly began to focus on the medical applications of FAIMS technology after his wife, Kate, was diagnosed with colon cancer and passed away due to a late diagnosis. At that time, he worked with clinical partners to integrate FAIMS technology into a broad range of clinical trials covering cancer, inflammatory diseases, and infectious diseases.

Following positive clinical trial results, he led the newly established medical business unit, which secured a £1 million contract from the NHS for LuciD’s early detection of lung cancer using FAIMS technology. Amidst clinical and commercial success, he spearheaded the spin-out of Owlstone Medical Ltd from its parent company. In March 2016, Owlstone Medical raised $7 million in funding, and Billy officially became the company’s CEO.

It is reported that Billy is also a recipient of the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Pioneer Award and a trustee of the Linacre Institute.

Now,Owlstone Medical has developed BreathBiopsy, a breath biopsy device that employs a non-invasive method to analyze respiratory metabolomics, enabling early detection and real-time monitoring of disease activity, primarily for the early detection and diagnosis of conditions such as cancer, inflammation, and infectious diseases.

Diseases have a direct impact on the body's metabolism, which leads to changes in the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exhaled in patients' breath. BreathBiopsy, by detecting these changes, has become a key tool for early disease diagnosis.

Its profound significance lies in the potential to fundamentally transform early diagnosis and precision medicine for diseases such as cancer. This technology enables early disease detection, guides the selection of appropriate treatments at an early stage, enhances therapeutic efficacy, improves patient prognosis, reduces healthcare costs, and ultimately saves more lives.

Currently, the breath biopsy platform is conducting global clinical trials for the early diagnosis of lung and colorectal cancer based on breath analysis. The device is also being utilized in the PAN-Cancer trial, a collaborative study with Cancer Research UK that investigates the early detection of eight different cancer types through breath analysis.

Last year, Owlstone also reached an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to include the company’s breath biopsy device in Phase II clinical trials of the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) product, danirixin.

“We believe in Owlstone Medical’s positioning; we will transcend multiple therapeutic areas to become the most powerful player in early cancer screening and precision medicine,” said Patrick Zhang of Horizons Ventures in a statement. “We believe that Owlstone Medical’s breath biopsy platform will have a significant impact on the healthcare industry.”

“Aviva Ventures has long been committed to investing in entrepreneurs building high-growth companies, and we believe Owlstone Medical’s technology holds significant strategic value for our business,” added Dr. Doug Wright, Medical Director at Aviva. “The expansion of our partnership with them underscores the company’s growing confidence in breath biopsy, while the platform is also poised to make a tangible impact on people’s health as a novel approach to early disease detection, screening, and treatment monitoring.”

“Since the company’s inception, we have established respiratory biopsy as a new industry category. We believe this funding will sufficiently demonstrate our market leadership in early detection and precision medicine,” said Founder and CEO Billy Boyle.