Molecular data startup Nutromics raises $5.7 million for its patient monitoring technology

A molecular medicine startup hoping to save lives through a wearable sensor its creators say is like a “lab-on-the-skin” has raised $5.7 million.

Melbourne healthtech venture Nutromics was co-founded Hitesh Mehta and Peter Vranes in 2018 after developing their idea in the MedTech Actuator program.

They’ve built what they call a Continuous Molecular Monitoring (CMM) platform.

Artesian Capital, an existing investor, led the round, taking the total funding raised to $10 million in 3.5 years. The latest cash injection will be used to set up manufacturing and conduct first-in-human clinical trials starting later this year. The company launch its devices in Australia and the US by 2023 before expanding globally.

Mehta, who is co-CEO with Vranes, said their monitoring technology can track multiple targets in the human body, giving doctors and patients real-time, continuous molecular-level insights to create remote patient monitoring and hospital-at-home systems.

“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 U.S. markets to start saving lives,” he said.

He’s already in discussion with medtech VCs venture capitalist firms about their next capital raise in 12-18 months.

The problem Nutromics will seek to address initially is therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) market for the commonly prescribed antibiotic vancomycin.

With around 60% of  vancomycin does not in the therapeutic range – amid wider concerns about the overuse of antibiotics and the implications – Nutromics hopes to enable precision dosing to eliminate preventable complications such as acute kidney injury, and unlock hospital-at-home systems for patients receiving the antibiotic.

Mehta said “vancomycin dosing is an area where hospital economics and patient outcomes will greatly benefit from simple solutions like Nutromics’ CMM platform technology”.

TDM expert Dr Sophie Stocker, a leading expert in Therapeutic Drug Monitoring said the Nutromics technology removes many, if not all, of the current barriers to individualising vancomycin dosing.

“It provides real-time personalised information about drug exposure in a patient to inform dosing decisions. This enables us to administer the medicine at the right dose and at the right time, every time, to ensure optimal patient outcomes as well as efficiencies in the clinical workflow,” she said.

Rohan Gray, Portfolio Manager at Artesian, said: “Nutromics is the perfect example of an innovative company that puts patients first. Instead of focusing on visible problems, they took the time to identify critical gaps in the healthcare system and are offering a solution that will save countless lives.”