Presagen raises global funding to commercialise Life Whisperer
Startups
South Australian company Presagen has raised A$4.5 million seed funding to accelerate their AI medical technology that improves fertility outcomes.
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AI medical imaging company Presagen has received investment from Australian and American private investors and the South Australian government.
Australian investment group Jungle Capital Group and US-based investment group 3Lines Venture Capital raised $3 million of private investment.
3Lines Venture Capital advises global AI startups on international market access to the United States and India.
The South Australian government also provided $1.5 million through its Research, Commercialisation and Startup Fund.
The combined funding will accelerate the commercialization of Presagen’s AI product Life Whisperer and enable Presagen to explore other medical applications of the product beyond IVF.
Presagen CEO Dr Michelle Perugini said the team is pleased with the funding and that it will lead to the product entering national and international clinics.
“Australian patients will be able to use this within months. By the end of the year patients will have the product in the US,” she said.
“Having this product publically available will be the pinnacle feeling for me.”
“To have patients actually benefitting from the software will be a really huge monument for me and the team and this funding puts us one step closer.”
Initially Life Whisperer will be offered to patients in Australia through the Monash IVF Group. Once Presagen passes FDA approval in the United States it will be offered to American markets.
Life Whisperer is a non-invasive, scalable and secure web-based tool that can be utilized by IVF clinics globally. Clinicians simply “drag and drop” patient embryo images taken from a standard microscope and receive an instant report on the embryo viability to inform their decision of which embryo to implant into the patient.
Presagen recently concluded a successful clinical study of the technology in 12 IVF clinics across the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.
Results demonstrated Life Whisperer had a 30 per cent accuracy improvement compared to highly skilled embryologists.
American studies also demonstrated Life Whisperer can detect Down Syndrome to a high level of accuracy through non-invasive analysis of 2D images of embryos.
“Our technology is cost effective and time effective as a usual round of IVF treatment costs $10,000,” said Dr Perugini.
“Life Whisperer will only cost you $300. This makes it feasible for couples who may only try one round of IVF.”
“In regards to Down Syndrome, you the methods for detection won’t be invasive.”
“We screen the image rather than slice into the embryo unlike the current procedure.”
Co-Founder and CTO Dr Jonathan Hall said the product keeps both the IVF couples and clinics in mind.
“It fits within the current workflow of clinics and requires no expensive or specialised hardware, so the barriers to uptake by clinics is minimal,” he said.
“It is our view that Life Whisperer will become a gold-standard pre-screen for all couples undergoing IVF.”
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