Life sciences startup lands additional funding
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West Lafayette-based life sciences startup Amplified Sciences has secured more funding to further develop its pancreatic cancer diagnostic platform.
The company has received two investments totaling $108,000 from the Flywheel Fund, which provides capital for early-stage and high-potential startups in Indiana.
Amplified Sciences’ platform uses patented dyes that can detect biomarkers in a small amount of pancreatic cyst fluid. It is based on the work of Dr. Jo Davisson, a professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Purdue University.
CEO Diana Caldwell says the platform is designed to make it easier for doctors to identify pancreatic cancer in high-risk patients at an earlier stage.
Caldwell said in a news release that the Flywheel Fund investment will support regulatory filings and help the clinical-stage startup build out a portfolio of tests as it heads toward a targeted early access launch later this year.
The Flywheel Fund is run by Bloomington-based coworking and entrepreneurship center The Mill. The company received $25,000 from the fund’s greater Lafayette chapter and $83,000 from the Fund 4 chapter in Bloomington.
“The team’s recent impressive progress through key regulatory milestones, clinical validation studies and securing hard-to-achieve National Cancer Institute funding further reinforced our belief that this is the right team to lead Amplified Sciences,” The Mill Executive Director Pat East said in a news release. “We are especially excited about the potential of their plug-and-play platform to extend beyond pancreatic cancer, aiding in the early diagnosis of other diseases.”
The investment comes nearly six months after Amplified Sciences completed a $1.5 million wave of funding last September. The company also secured $1.8 million in seed funding in 2021, as well as a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute valued at over $400,000 last year.
Amplified Sciences is also nominated for Tech Innovation Team of the Year at this year’s TechPoint Mira Awards.