Fire Awards: Winner - Biotech/Health care
C2N Diagnostics, a St. Louis-based biotechnology firm that has created a blood test designed to help doctors detect Alzheimer’s disease, made headlines in the past year. C2N in February said it raised $15 million in funding to enhance its technology, with the capital being used for development of PrecivityAD2, a second version of its blood test. It has also expanded its leadership team and publicly shared research results it says “demonstrate the accuracy” of its blood tests.
C2N, with its headquarters at the BioSTL Building at 4340 Duncan Ave. in the Cortex innovation district, has also targeted global expansion, inking partnerships with Australian health care company Healius Ltd. and Brazilian health care firm Group Fleury.
CEO Joel Braunstein answered questions about the company.
C2N has recently entered into partnerships with organizations in Brazil and Australia. Why is global expansion important to the company and what will its global expansion look like moving forward? Alzheimer’s disease knows no boundaries; it’s estimated that at least 55 million people around the world are living with Alzheimer’s or other dementias. This is what motivates us to provide exceptional laboratory services and products in the field of brain health.
The partnerships C2N has forged with two leading regional reference laboratories, Healius Pathology Ltd. and Grupo Fleury, to address the unmet medical needs in Australia and Brazil, respectively, serve as the initial pilots for our global commercial plans. Part of our team’s mission is to ensure that all patients throughout the world have equitable access to our diagnostic innovations, including the PrecivityAD blood test that helps to identify amyloid plaques, a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Our initial collaborations with Healius and Fleury will aim to establish regional C2N “Centers of Excellence” that demonstrate the feasibility of decentralizing our mass spectrometry-based Alzheimer’s diagnostic solutions through trusted partnerships, while maintaining high quality testing. We expect to learn from these partnerships and apply them to other key markets throughout the world to achieve our goal of equitable access for improved patient care. The global need for a simple blood test that can accurately and timely diagnose Alzheimer’s disease has never been greater.
On July 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the first full approval of a disease-modifying therapy, LEQEMBI, that slows clinical progression in early disease. All patients being evaluated for LEQEMBI require amyloid biomarker confirmation to determine treatment eligibility, which is where C2N’s blood testing solutions may help to fulfill that requirement. LEQEMBI and other disease-modifying therapies will soon be available throughout the world; thus, amplifying the importance of blood tests and our global commercial plans.
C2N has recently expanded its office footprint in St. Louis. How will that help with the company’s growth plans? C2N’s tests are currently offered as single-site in vitro diagnostics, which means all testing is performed in our CAP accredited, CLIA certified laboratory located in St. Louis. Expanding our lab capacity is aimed at enabling us to meet the growing demand throughout North America for our clinically validated blood biomarker testing in Alzheimer’s disease.
How is being headquartered in St. Louis a competitive advantage for C2N? C2N has absolutely benefited from being located in St. Louis. We’re proud to call the city our hometown. The connection starts with our scientific co-founders, Drs. David Holtzman and Randy Bateman, who serve on the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine and continue to advise the company on matters related to technology development and commercialization. Our close proximity to and partnership with Washington University, including multiple faculty throughout the institution, provides exceptional opportunities for continued innovation in the Alzheimer’s disease field.
We’re very proud to be able to advance the community’s interest in biosciences by investing in this world-class city. We appreciate the support we’ve received from state and city leaders, the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, as well as the medical community in adding to St. Louis’ reputation as a leading home for innovative companies.
What is C2N’s top goal for the next year? One of our company’s top goals for next year is to establish our next generation Precivity blood test as a leading test for early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. We hope to accomplish this milestone through new clinical study data, expanded partnerships, medical education and a larger commercial infrastructure that can support increased patient testing and excellent customer service.
Is C2N currently hiring? If so, for what roles? We are actively hiring in many departments of our company. This includes: laboratory sciences and operations, research and development, information technology, commercial sales and marketing, and medical affairs. We encourage job seekers to visit the company website for additional openings when they’re posted.
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