Virchow Medical, manufacturer of the Crow’s Nest® Biopsy Catchment System and operator of the Virchow VaultTM Liquid Specimen Biorepository, announced it has completed a $4 million seed financing led by Cerberus Ventures. Chenny Zhang of Cerberus Ventures will join the Virchow Board of Directors.
The working capital will be used to complete the development of the world’s first liquid specimen biorepository, the Virchow Vault, and deploy Biopsy Catchment® pilot programs at additional medical institutions across the United States.
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Today, oncologists ordering genomic sequencing must rely on formalin-fixed tissue harvested in a patient’s biopsy procedure, which is often not available, and even when available is insufficient for clinical lab molecular diagnostics. At the same time, tens of thousands of dislodged tumor cells are generally wasted when the biopsy needle used is discarded. Virchow’s Crow’s Nest Biopsy Catchment System is designed to solve both those problems by capturing this otherwise wasted material. Clinical data generated from six U.S. medical institutions running Crow’s Nest concordance studies – in which the molecular testing results from standard formalin-fixed tissue specimens are compared to the molecular testing results from Liquid Companion Specimens (LCSs) from the Crow’s Nest – suggests additional benefits from using the technology. By collecting high quality molecular samples from residual cells that would otherwise be discarded, invaluable data can be extracted to offer insight into other options for cancer patients beyond chemotherapy, such as targeted immunotherapy, while reducing the need for repeat patient biopsies.
“The backing of Cerberus Ventures enables us to accelerate the education of the oncology, pathology, radiology, and reference lab communities about the clinical and financial benefits of banking high‑quality genetic material sourced from used biopsy needles,” said Alexander Arrow, MD, CEO of Virchow Medical. “It’s the best way to counteract tissue insufficiency, and Virchow has the technology and resources to harness that. We are humbled and honored to be in a position to help an enormous number of cancer patients.”
In addition to Cerberus Ventures’ investment, individuals participating in this financing include pathologists and interventional radiologists who have used Virchow’s Crow’s Nest Biopsy Catchment System and therefore experienced the benefits of creating LCSs from high-quality source material that would have normally been wasted after biopsy procedures.
“We see Virchow not just as a platform to improve cancer patient outcomes, but also as a differentiated data provider that can help accelerate AI benefits across the healthcare system,” said Chenny Zhang, Managing Director for Cerberus Ventures. “We have been incredibly impressed with the Virchow team’s experience and execution and look forward to this partnership in their next phase of growth.”
