Geneoscopy is conducting a human trial of its technology right now, and results from the study will take some time to analyze and release – but because the thing they’re testing is a home health screening kit the startup is able to get participants in the study that most accurately represent the demographic make up of all Americans. That’s a problem with most other studies.
Andrew Barnell, Geneoscopy CEO
“It has to do with how clinical studies were traditionally brought together,” Geneoscopy CEO Andrew Barnell told the 4thEst8. “Medical institutions tend to be in cities, more affluent communities, near people of higher socioeconomic status… but one of our strengths is that because we ship kits through the mail we have a decentralized population participating.”
The St. Louis-based Geneoscopy was founded in 2015. The company is developing a screening methodology to noninvasively diagnose colorectal cancer using bio-markers in stool samples. The screening technology examines RNA in a stool sample to detect the cancer, but this simple test is just the first of what Barnell says will be a platform of tests. Broadening this technology could be used to detect, prevent, and guide treatment of a wide variety of gastrointestinal diseases.
The company has 40 full time employees, mostly scientists. Last November it closed a $105M Series B led by Lightchain Capital and NT Investments with participation from Morningside Ventures, Labcorp, Cultivation Capital, BioGenerator Ventures and Innovatus Capital Partners. Prior to that, it raised a total of $7.9M, mostly from a 2019 Series A. Other investors include Missouri Technology Corporation, Billiken Angels Network, the Dorm Room Fund and individual investor Rodger Riney.
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