Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. (TASE: CBI) today announced that Sight Diagnostics, a portfolio company of Anatomy, Clal Biotechnology's investment fund for medical devices, had raised $28 million. When the round is completed, Anatomy's stake in Sight Diagnostics will be 7%. Clal Biotechnology holds 50% of Anatomy.
Clal Biotechnology's share price fell 8% today, despite the announcement, pushing its market cap down to NIS 425 million. Today's drop is probably a result of falls in the US biotech market, also reflected in the share prices of public companies in which Clal Biotechnology has holdings: Gamida Cell Ltd. (Nasdaq: GMDA), MediWound Ltd, (Nasdaq: MDWD), and Neon Therapeutics (NasdaNTGN).
Sight Diagnostics has developed a real-time blood test requiring only a few drops of blood that can be collected by pricking a finger. The company's test for malaria is being marketed in developing countries, and it is also developing a test to replace the conventional blood count test. Sight Diagnostics' test requires neither taking blood from a vein nor analysis of the blood in a central laboratory; a doctor can obtain the results in an independent clinic within minutes.
In the first stage, the test is nevertheless carried out in a central laboratory. Simultaneously with the launch, the company also began a clinical trial in the US. Sight Diagnostics has already conducted a clinical trial on 247 patients at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which enabled the company to obtain CE approval for marketing in Europe.
Sight Diagnostics was founded in 2010 by CEO Yossi Pollak, a former project manager at Mobileye, and Daniel Levner.
Most of Clal Biotechnology' activity is in the pharma sector in Israel and the US, with small scale activity in medical devices via Anatomy. Two of Clal Biotechnologies' portfolio companies held IPOs over the past year: Gamida Cell and Neon Therapeutics, both of them cancer treatment companies. Clal Biotechnology is preparing for an US offering by another portfolio company - Anchiano Therapeutics Ltd. (TASE: ANCN) (formerly BioCanCell Therapeutics). Clal Biotechnology has holdings in US companies Vedantra (another cancer treatment company) and Cadent Therapeutics, which develops drugs for mental illnesses and brain diseases, and in MediWound, an Israeli company that develops treatments for wounds and burns, which recently announced its intention of making a strategic deal.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 23, 2018
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