EValuate Diagnostics, the first spinout company from the Hackensack Meridian Health Research Institute and its Office of Innovation and Commercialization, is the newest addition to Foundation Venture Capital Group’s portfolio. FVCG, an affiliate of the New Jersey Health Foundation, provided a $1 million commitment towards helping EValuate Diagnostics advance its technologies to make this testing a reality — and save lives of the future.
EValuate Diagnostics will market a new platform for the targeted capture of circulating biomarkers, known as extracellular vesicles.
In the medical world, the selection of circulating EVs for detection of disease has been elusive to medicine thus far, but technological advances in their isolation and analysis of molecular cargos are enabling the detection of novel biomarkers. Diagnostic assays derived from this technology will help monitor disease biomarkers for earlier-than-ever detection of tumors and a wide range of other diseases.
“Our innovation at Hackensack Meridian Health aims to revolutionize the way we detect and treat disease,” Robert Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, said. “With partnerships like that with FVCG, we are accelerating breakthroughs to save lives. We are grateful to have such important relationships with organizations who understand our ambitions.”
EValuate Diagnostics’ mission is to develop diagnostic solutions for very early and rapid detection of diseases like cancer before other current methods. This aligns with NJHF’s mission to promote the advancement of health-related research and education throughout the state of New Jersey.
“EValuate Diagnostics’ research could be a game-changer, and we will help make their objective of successfully commercializing their technology a reality — for everyone’s benefit,” Dr. George Heinrich, vice chair and CEO of NJHF and FVCG, said.
The company is based upon the work of Olivier Loudig, an associate member of the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation, who is directly involved with the development of EValuate Diagnostics. His laboratory at the CDI has developed research programs for biomarker discovery and early detection of breast, lung and prostate cancers using liquid biopsies.
A core tenet of the mission of the CDI, founded in 2019, is translating cutting-edge science to rapidly impact patient health for New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive health network. EValuate Diagnostics is a direct product of this research ethos.
“We believe the work of Dr. Loudig is very promising,” Sandra Powell-Elliott, the chief innovation officer for Hackensack Meridian Health, who leads the network’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization, said. “We will support the work as EValuate Diagnostics continues to break new ground in this field.”
“The work of Olivier Loudig is pushing the envelope of disease detection,” David Perlin, the chief scientific officer and executive vice president of the CDI, said. “We are thrilled that this work will be translated for real-world clinical impact in the near future.”
