A Bengaluru based Research Company OncoStem has secured $6 million from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and venture fund Artiman Ventures. The firm which focuses on cancer treatment will use this fund to deepen its R&D efforts, develop effective tests for oral, brain and colon cancer and automate these tests, said CEO Manjiri Bakre.

OncoStem plans to expand its presence in India

OncoStem is planning to expand its presence in India and want to introduce the test in Asia and Europe, Bakre said. She further added that “We want to expand sales and marketing in Asian countries. We have shortlisted six countries. We also want to set up a lab in Singapore and expand R&D here. We are also working on oral, colon and brain cancer. We want to automate the test end-to-end. The cost of our test is one-fifth as compared to the west”.

Anjana Sasidharan, principal, Sequoia Capital, said that “OncoStem is filling a critical need gap and helping spare thousands of cancer patients from severe chemotherapy, the associated toxic effects and the costs. The technology and pricing will allow more patients to approach such cutting-edge tests, which is more costly in markets.”

OncoStem’s product ‘CanAssist-Brest’

OncoStem’s lead item, ‘CanAssist-Breast’, can possibly help breast cancer patients maintain a strategic distance from pointless chemotherapy. In addition to CanAssist-Breast, OncoStem intends to dispatch another test for patients experiencing a ‘harder to treat’ triple-negative breast cancer.