Oxford Cancer Analytics raises USD$11M

OXFORD, UK and TORONTO — Oxford Cancer Analytics (OXcan), a medtech company developing blood tests for early cancer detection using advanced proteomics and AI, announced it has raised US$11 million in Series A funding from global investors, including in-field institutional investors in disease detection and diagnostics.

The funding round was led by We Venture Capital and Cross-Border Impact Ventures with participation from return investors Eka Ventures, and Civilization Ventures, and new investors DigitalDx Ventures, Macmillan Cancer Support (Innovation Impact Investment Portfolio), Aurelium Ventures, OKG Capital, and several prominent angel investors.

This investment brings OXcan’s total funding to date to US$16.7 million, positioning the company to develop and globally commercialize its new generation of minimally invasive liquid biopsy blood tests for early cancer detection.

OXcan is incorporated in Canada and works with MaRS, Vector Institute’s FastLane program, and H2i at the University of Toronto. It has participated with the Ontario Delegation on trade missions, including those led by the minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade of Ontario.

“OXcan is working with leading lung cancer screening programs worldwide to develop products that will be fully integrated with existing clinical pathways to enhance lung cancer screening, accelerate adoption, improve patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare system burdens from lung cancer,” says Dr. Daniel Szulc (pictured), Chief Product Officer at OXcan.

Concurrent with the funding round, Gemma Sturt, Senior Investment Manager at We Venture Capital, Werfen’s Corporate Venture Arm and Annie Theriault, managing partner at Cross-Border Impact Ventures have joined the OXcan board of directors.

OXcan has also appointed Dr. Heinrich Roder as senior vice president (SVP), Research & Development. With over two decades of experience in lung cancer liquid biopsy and commercialization at a Nasdaq listed company, Dr. Roder will focus on developing OXcan’s lung cancer blood test for deployment.

OXcan was born from breakthrough innovations in combining advanced proteomics and tailored machine learning to transform early cancer detection using a blood test known as liquid biopsy.

Following OXcan’s founding in 2020 by Dr. Peter Jianrui Liu, CEO and Dr. Andreas Halner, COO, experts in oncology innovation and machine learning, the team began applying cutting-edge research methods to liquid biopsy data.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal, iScience, Cell Press, OXcan’s initial machine learning doubled detection rates across eight cancer types by narrowing thousands of proteins to key biomarker signatures Today, OXcan is at the forefront of early cancer detection, with a patented approach, a state-of-the-art proteomics lab, and a platform dedicated to advancing the field of liquid biopsy.

Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths worldwide. While over 70% of cases are diagnosed beyond the localized stage, there is a 12-fold increase in five-year survivorship between those detected at stage one versus stage four, highlighting the role of early detection in improving patient outcomes. OXcan is addressing this critical problem by developing a simple blood test to detect these deadliest cancers early.

“The power of the OXcan proteomics biomarker discovery platform and the data generated by Oxcan stand out against the backdrop of other liquid biopsy companies, indicating a truly superior performance in the identification of early stage lung cancer,” says Louise Warme, MD, Head of We Venture Capital. “We have been very impressed by the team to date and look forward to supporting the company in the next phase of its growth to offer its first product to patients.”

OXcan’s protein-based blood test provides a molecular signature for patients at high risk of lung cancer. The company’s diverse, global biobank allows for more reliable biomarker identification across different populations, to help ensure the test will be effective worldwide. Additionally, OXcan uses advanced proteomics technology to detect a larger number of proteins, providing a more comprehensive view of the disease.

“Having developed blood-based proteomic tests for lung cancer for over two decades, I appreciate the difficulty of detecting cancers early through liquid biopsy,” says Dr. Heinrich Roder, SVP R&D at OXcan. “Convinced that OXcan’s unique approach can address this clinical need, I feel privileged to join the team. Together, our plan is to offer this novel technological approach to large markets worldwide to start a new era of early detection and improve patient outcomes.”

Since OXcan’s last funding round in 2023, the company has established global partnerships with a versatile test that can be deployed internationally using scalable platforms. OXcan is now working with over 20 healthcare centres on three continents – including pioneers in existing lung cancer screening paradigms – to develop and deploy the technology.

OXcan has quickly expanded its team to 15 members, with a strong presence across the U.K., U.S., and Canada. The funding will be used for test deployment to improve patient outcomes by enabling cancer detection earlier.

“Macmillan has a proud history of supporting groundbreaking new projects that can transform care for people living with cancer,” says Felix Litzkow, Head of Impact Investments for Macmillan Cancer Support. “OXcan’s simple, low cost and accurate blood test has the potential to make it easier to diagnose lung cancer, and to increase the number of people being tested.”

“I have worked with OXcan’s founders since the company’s seed round of funding and have been impressed by the quality of work done to date,” says Brad Wilson, OXcan Chairman and former President Europe of GlaxoSmithKline. “The significant investment I have made in this Series A round is a concrete demonstration of my strong conviction and belief in OXcan, its strategy, and its team.”

About Oxford Cancer Analytics
Oxford Cancer Analytics (OXcan) is on a mission to drastically transform cancer early detection and management to impact millions of lives worldwide. OXcan’s multidisciplinary team is developing a new generation of liquid biopsy blood tests using cutting-edge proteomics and explainable machine learning approaches that can detect the deadliest cancers early, when they can still be cured. This blood test can be conducted in an affordable, minimally invasive, and routine manner with superior accuracy and localization capacity in large populations. OXcan has applied their biomarker discovery and validation platform starting from lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, and achieved ISO13485 certification status. For additional information, visit oxcan.org.