Sophia Genetics raised CHF2.8 million

Today, the EPFL reported some news about Sophia Genetics: “Launched in September 2012, the new bioinformatics tool of Sophia Genetics is already being used by a dozen hospitals and laboratories in Switzerland. With it, a DNA sample can be taken during a medical examination and sent to a specialized laboratory for extraction. The young company based at the Ecublens Science Park has raised 2.8 million francs for development.”

Sophia Genetics was founded in March 2011 in Lausanne, Switzerland by Drs. Jurgi Camblong, Pierre Hutter and Lars Steinmetz. The technology of the start-up addresses several groups of customers:

Health professionals can use genetic information in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases. In particular, gene sequences can be informative as to a patient’s risk for developing a disease, enabling the patient and healthcare provider alike to take preventive action in a timely manner. Genetic information is now routinely used for the pre-symptomatic surveillance of established carriers of genetic variants associated with specific health risks (such as breast and colorectal cancers, cardiovascular diseases or various progressive metabolic disorders), and it is rapidly expanding to hundreds of other genetic disorders. In cases where treatment is necessary, sequence data can inform the optimization of a treatment plan that includes sufficient doses for the individual while preventing adverse drug reactions.

The pharmaceutical industry can integrate genetic information into clinical trials and develop more effective therapeutics which takes individual variation into account.

Researchers can accelerate the interpretation of genomic data.