CanDiag Inc., a University of North Carolina at Charlotte spin-out raises Angel Capital

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – (Oct. 11, 2012) – CanDiag, Inc., a University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) spin-out company focused on early-stage breast cancer detection has successfully closed on over $500,000 in a syndicated angel capital financing.

Founded in 2011 by Dr. Pinku Mukherjee, an Irwin Belk Endowed Professor for Cancer Research at UNC Charlotte, CanDiag holds an exclusive license from UNC Charlotte to a patent-pending tumor antibody with diagnostic applications for a wide variety of cancer patients. With this financing, CanDiag has met a key due diligence milestone as part of its license agreement with UNC Charlotte. Earlier this year, CanDiag also won the grand prize while competing against 117 early stage companies in The Charlotte Venture Challenge, the region’s premier business plan competition, and was named the overall competition winner.

“We are very excited that multiple angel groups have invested in us and see the potential of our exciting technology,” said Dr. Mukherjee, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, CanDiag.

The terms of the financing provide an option to the syndicate of angel investors to make an additional investment of over $1 million within the next year.

While CanDiag is initially focused on diagnostics, it also holds an exclusive option to license the therapeutic rights to the tumor antibody. Dr. Mukherjee's academic research program at UNC Charlotte has received 3 years of grant funding for development of future cancer therapeutic applications.

“The university is very proud of CanDiag and everything they have accomplished so far,” notes Brad Fach, Assistant Director for the Office of Technology Transfer at UNC Charlotte. “We have a great partnership with the company and hope they will continue to expand here in Charlotte and add to our growing biotechnology community.”

This press release is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy shares or any other security in any jurisdiction. 

About CanDiag, Inc.

CanDiag (www.candiaginc.com) is a University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) spin-out that has licensed a patent-protected technology from the university with diagnostic applications spanning the life cycle of cancer patients, from detecting and locating cancer to treatment and monitoring for recurrence. In a pilot study with blood samples from breast cancer patients and healthy individuals, CanDiag’s test outperformed market leaders in both tumor detection and accuracy. The company is gearing up for a pivotal clinical study of its blood test and will pursue additional diagnostic, imaging, and therapeutic product development and commercialization in the cancer space.

About UNC Charlotte

UNC Charlotte is North Carolina’s urban research university. It is the fourth largest campus among the 17 institutions of The University of North Carolina system and the largest institution of higher education in the Charlotte region. Fall 2012 enrollment exceeded 26,300 students, including 5,000 graduate students. Find UNC Charlotte on the Web, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and follow the UNC CLT_News blog