Inflammatix, a pioneering molecular diagnostics company, announced today the closing of a $102 million Series D round of financing to support development and commercialization of its novel immune response diagnostics portfolio. D1 Capital Partners led the round, with participation from the company’s existing investors, including Northpond Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Think.Health, and OSF Healthcare Ventures.
Sepsis caused more than five million deaths annually worldwide before the COVID-19 pandemic, and severe COVID-19 has been recognized as viral sepsis. In addition, antibiotic resistance is directly responsible for more than 700,000 deaths annually worldwide. Traditional methods for diagnosing acute infections are slow and are often inaccurate because they only look for pathogens in the bloodstream, despite the fact that most infections never enter the bloodstream. As a result, patients with suspected infection are often inappropriately treated with antibiotics, contributing to antibiotic resistance. Sepsis is often missed altogether.
Inflammatix’s diagnostics rapidly read the patient’s immune response to infections across multiple mRNA biomarkers using machine learning algorithms. The company’s tests can identify the presence and type of infection (viral or bacterial), and the risk of severe disease, including severe COVID-19, to enable physicians to make more informed decisions. The tests are designed to be run on the company’s sample-to-answer, cartridge-based, point-of-care Myrna™ test system, which produces results in under 30 minutes.