Nutromics, an Australian medical technology startup, has raised A$5.7 million ($4.1 million) in a pre-market funding round participated by private investors. This brings its total capital raised in the past three years to A$10 million ($7.2 million).

WHAT IT DOES

Founded in 2018, the startup is developing continuous molecular monitoring (CMM) platform technology that is able to track multiple targets in the human body via a single wearable sensor. The platform provides real-time, continuous molecular-level insights for remote patient monitoring and hospital-at-home systems.

The "lab-on-the-skin device" is being researched and developed in collaboration with the RMIT University, the University of New South Wales, St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of California San Diego. 

WHY IT MATTERS

The startup said in a statement that it will use its fresh funds to set up a manufacturing facility and conduct the device's first human clinical trial that will begin later this year. The CMM patch is planned to be initially introduced in Australia and the US. 

The company has also revealed that it is in talks with various medical technology investors for a potential investing round over the next 12-18 months.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Nutromics is looking to first enter the therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) market by 2023 with its CMM patch for vancomycin, a prescription antibiotic. Presently, it said, around 60% of administered doses of the medicine do not fall within the therapeutic range, leading to complications from overdosing and underdosing, increasing medical costs and longer recovery times.

Dr Sophie Stocker, a TDM expert, was quoted saying that the Nutromics device enables clinicians to administer medicine "at the right dose and at the right time". She said that the CMM patch will remove many of the current barriers to individualising vancomycin dosing by providing real-time personalised information about drug exposure on patients which in turn informs their dosing decisions.

According to a research report by MarketsandMarkets, the global TDM market is expected to grow at a 6.9% CAGR to reach a value of $2 billion by 2025 from $1.4 billion last year.

ON THE RECORD

"We’ve received an overwhelming amount of support for our technology from clinicians all around the world. With this new wave of funding, we are getting closer to launching our technology in the Australian and the US markets to start saving lives," said Hitesh Mehta, co-founder and co-CEO of Nutromics.