Parithera raises CHF 100 000 from FIT
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The Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) has granted a CHF 100’000 Tech Seed loan to Parithera and its ExTrace Dx solution for cancer treatment.
90% of patients die from cancer because of treatment resistance. Parithera developed an integrated in-vitro diagnostic solution for cancer treatments’ response monitoring single blood draws to better understand diagnostics and treatments follow-up for cancer patients. Parithera’s solution comprises 3 innovations, each of them covered by a patent application from ETHZ and EPFL.
From blood samples to the report provided to clinicians, Parithera can isolate circulating tumour cells and analyse the main resistance mechanism at the single-cell level. This approach is much less invasive than tissue biopsy and provides a more accurate tumour description. Furthermore, it allows clinicians to adapt treatment protocols and offer the proper treatment at the right time to each patient from a simple blood draw. Parithera aims at developing Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) monitoring and liquid biopsies to better understand diagnostics and treatments follow-up for cancer patients. In addition, it offers a possibility to understand the mutation and treatment resistance of cancers during treatment cycles.
Antoine Herzog and Weida Chen are the cofounders of the company. Both of them have been working since their PhD on Liquid Biopsies. Parithera received numerous funding to develop its technology, such as an Innosuisse grant of CHF 450 000 , an EPFL Ignition grant and CHF 50’000 from Venture Kick. The FIT Tech Seed loan is to be used to do an analytical validation of CTC isolation with clinical samples. The objective is to enable a pilot project with different pharmaceutical companies.