Boston-based startup and Harvard i-lab veteran UrSure, which makes urine tests to help doctors and patients improve medication adherence—particularly to treat HIV infections—is set to be acquired by Pennsylvania company OraSure Technologies for $3 million upfront, with an additional $28 million in payments contingent on specific milestones.
UrSure was founded by two physicians, Helen Koenig and Giffin Daughtridge, who noticed that patients at their HIV prevention clinic were still testing positive for HIV, even though they were routinely picking up their PrEP (short for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) medication, Truvada.
Koenig and Daughtridge developed a lab-based urine test that could measure levels of one of the drugs in Truvada in their patients' urine, allowing doctors to determine whether patients were adhering to their prescribed PrEP routines. That test became the foundation for UrSure. Koenig and Daughtridge officially incorporated the startup in 2015.
"Our tests allow providers to objectively identify which of their patients need more adherence support rather than depend on self-report, which is notoriously unreliable," Daughtridge, who now heads up UrSure as CEO, said in an email to BostInno. "With this information, they can then allocate resources like targeted counseling or a case manager to those individuals who are struggling with adherence. We are the only company in the world that has commercialized a PrEP adherence test, and we have a pipeline of additional medication adherence tests in development."
UrSure is a veteran of a multitude of local accelerators. The startup participated in the Harvard i-lab's Venture Incubation Program each semester from fall 2015 to summer 2017, then joined the Harvard Life Lab until December 2019. Today, UrSure is a member of the Harvard Launch Lab X, the i-lab's alumni accelerator. UrSure has also participated in MassChallenge and MassConnect.
Daughtridge noted that the startup's initial seed funding came from victories at the Harvard Business School's New Venture Competition and Harvard President's Innovation Challenge.
"We have been incredibly fortunate to have grown in the Boston life sciences entrepreneurial ecosystem," he said. "I can't imagine a better environment in which to build a life sciences startup. Beyond the accelerators and business plan competitions, being here has also facilitated access to world class mentorship, enhanced our ability to recruit talent and helped us develop and initially scale our products with local partners."
Prior to the acquisition, UrSure had raised $870,000 in dilutive financing and been awarded almost $5 million in grants, including through the National Institutes of Healths' Small Business Innovation Research program.
As of November, the startup had sold more than 4,000 tests to clinics in 10 states.
Once the transaction closes, UrSure will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of OraSure, effectively continuing its operations under OraSure's umbrella. The startup currently has 10 employees on its team.
