Intervention Insights of Grand Rapids, MI has raised $7.2 million in venture capital to help commercialize software that helps doctors identify the proper drugs to treat a patient’s specific cancer.
Beringea, the private equity/venture capital firm based in Farmington Hills, and Chrysalis Ventures in Louisville, KY, led the startup’s Series B round, which also includes previous investors Hopen Life Sciences and Michigan Accelerator Fund I.
“It’s a really strong syndicate,” Beringea managing director Michael Gross told Xconomy. Gross, along with Chrysalis Ventures managing director Koleman Karleski, are joining Intervention’s board.
Founded in 2009 with technology from the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, the startup is at the forefront of an emerging field called pharmacogenomics or “tumor profiling,” in which scientists can map out the genetic makeup of cancer cells found in a particular patient. Intervention has developed software that can help doctors to quickly match the most appropriate drug therapy to that specific patient’s cancer.
“We’ve been monitoring the molecular diagnostic space for a while now,” Gross says. “Physicians today have much more useful information than in the past to treat and diagnose cancer. [Intervention’s technology] will allow physicians to have [even] better information. It will make healthcare more efficient.”
Gross says Intervention will use the money to expand sales and to help win reimbursement from third party payers.
