GE Healthcare, the healthcare business of GE (NYSE:GE) and CardioDx, a pioneer in cardiovascular genomic diagnostics, announced today that the companies have entered into a strategic alliance to advance and co-develop diagnostic technologies to improve the care and management of patients with cardiovascular disease. Building on the alliance, the GE Healthymagination Fund, a new equity fund that makes investments in highly promising healthcare technology companies, has invested $5 million in CardioDx as part of a Series D round that the fund is leading. The alliance between the two companies aligns with GE's healthymagination initiative which focuses on reducing cost, increasing access and improving quality in healthcare. This marks the first investment for the Healthymagination Fund. Other financial terms were not disclosed.
“We offer a unique proposition to promising healthcare technology companies like CardioDx. As well as providing growth capital and investment expertise, we offer entrepreneurs the opportunity to work with GE Healthcare and GE's Global Research Center to accelerate the development of new technologies that align with our healthymagination initiative.”
CardioDx develops genomic tests to aid in the assessment and tailoring of care of individuals with cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease (CAD), cardiac arrhythmias and heart failure. GE Healthcare is a world-class provider of advanced technologies for cardiovascular imaging and monitoring. The strategic fit between the two businesses combined with expanded capabilities in product research and development will accelerate the development of new high-value integrated technologies for the diagnosis and care of patients with suspected heart disease. This alliance also reflects GE Healthcare's continuing interest in opportunities to combine in vivo and in vitro diagnostic technologies to improve patient care.
CardioDx's initial product, Corus™ CAD, is a clinically validated non-invasive genomic test that uses data such as gene expression levels and other patient characteristics to assess the likelihood that a patient has obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) - a narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries that can lead to heart attack or death. Today, patients with suspected CAD are diagnosed through a combination of non-invasive and invasive procedures. Corus CAD uses a simple blood test to quantify the likelihood of CAD, helping cardiologists make more informed decisions on how best to diagnose and treat their patients.
Pascale Witz, President and CEO of GE Healthcare's Medical Diagnostics business, said, "GE Healthcare is a leader in diagnostic imaging. The alliance with CardioDx gives us access to new and exciting technologies in high-value diagnostics, which will complement and strengthen our existing offerings. CardioDx is an excellent strategic fit with GE Healthcare, given our common focus on cardiovascular disease. We see enormous potential in integrated, high-value diagnostics. The combined talent of the two businesses offers the potential to accelerate the development of new technologies that will ultimately improve patient care."
David Levison, CardioDx's President and CEO, said, "This is a very exciting development in the future of cardiovascular genomic diagnostics. The strategic alliance with GE Healthcare and the funding from GE's Healthymagination Fund will allow us to benefit from the business and scientific expertise of a world-class healthcare company, which has a great heritage in diagnostic technology. We have a shared vision of the future of healthcare - where innovation can help create greater healthcare efficiencies, reduce the need for unnecessary tests, and enable physicians to tailor care to the individual."
Commenting on the alliance, Michael Jones, Executive Vice President of Business Development at GE Healthcare and Director of GE's Healthymagination Fund said, "We offer a unique proposition to promising healthcare technology companies like CardioDx. As well as providing growth capital and investment expertise, we offer entrepreneurs the opportunity to work with GE Healthcare and GE's Global Research Center to accelerate the development of new technologies that align with our healthymagination initiative."
The Healthymagination Fund is part of GE's $6 billion healthymagination initiative, a global commitment to deliver better healthcare to more people at lower cost. The $250 million Healthymagination Fund targets three broad areas for investment:
- Broad-based Diagnostics, including imaging, home health, patient monitoring, molecular diagnostics, pathology, novel imaging agents and other technologies for disease diagnosis.
- Healthcare Information Technology, including electronic medical records, clinical information systems, healthcare information exchanges and value-added data services.
- Life Sciences, including tools for research and development in biopharmaceuticals and stem cells, and technologies for manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.
The fund draws on capabilities from across GE Healthcare, GE Capital and GE Global Research, and has a global footprint.
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