Digital blood biomarkers firm General Prognostics raises $3.25m

General Prognostics, which is creating what it says is the world’s first API for blood to digitise critical blood biomarkers and improve clinical predictions, has raised $3.25 million in seed funding. 

Among the investors are D4V (Design for Ventures), a Tokyo-based venture capital firm in partnership with global design consultancy IDEO, as well as angel investors including Pete Moran, founder and former general partner at DCM Ventures, Hiroaki Kitano, senior executive vice president and CTO at Sony Group Corporation and president & CEO at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, and Masao Hitotsuyanagi, former president of Terumo USA.

Javier Echenique, CEO and co-founder of General Prognostics said: “Blood tests, surgically implanted devices and other monitoring methods used to track and treat serious ailments are often cumbersome, painful and expensive, which is why mortality and hospital re-admission rates are shockingly high for conditions like heart failure. Our API for Blood platform improves patient outcomes by giving physicians the data they need to monitor critical blood biomarkers and make accurate predictions without invasive and costly procedures.”

General Prognostics’ platform aims to open the door to improving treatment and quality of life for those suffering from ailments starting with heart failure and including pulmonary arterial hypertension, hyperkalemia, and renal exacerbation.

At the heart of the platform is a powerful suite of AI algorithms, called the Canary Prediction Engine, that digitises critical blood biomarkers to provide clinical predictions that, in the case of heart failure, are as accurate as surgically implanted devices.

The platform is part of a first-of-its-kind study, launched first at the University of Kansas Medical Center, evaluating at-home monitoring of heart failure patients to save lives while reducing healthcare costs and the need for invasive surgical procedures and painful blood tests.

Tom Kelley, founder & chairman at D4V, said: “New human-centred approaches to accurately monitor patients’ health can yield great benefits for global healthcare, especially among aging populations. General Prognostics gives doctors vital data to improve patient care and provides pharmaceutical partners new levels of insight that can accelerate clinical studies and commercialisation efforts.”