Retham Technologies Announces Initial Close of $1.5 Million Seed Financing to Advance HITDx™ Diagnostic for Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia
Financing led by Talents Fund complements $4.8 million in NIH/NHLBI SBIR awards and provides additional validation of
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Retham Technologies, Inc. today announced the initial close of its $1.5 million seed financing, led by Talents Fund, with participation from Golden Angels Investors and Milwaukee Venture Partners. The financing will advance HITDx™, Retham’s functional diagnostic assay for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).
HIT is a potentially life-threatening immune reaction to heparin, one of the world’s most widely used blood thinners. The condition can cause dangerous blood clots even as a patient’s platelet count falls. Diagnosing HIT can be challenging as commonly used frontline immunoassays produce a high rate of false-positive results, while confirmatory gold-standard functional testing suffers from long turn-around times as they require fresh donor platelets and are only performed at specialized reference laboratories. This delays urgent clinical decision making that puts patients at risk and increases costs for healthcare providers.
HITDx is designed to provide rapid, accurate gold-standard functional HIT testing results in hospital and clinical laboratories. The assay incorporates Retham’s proprietary cryopreserved platelet technology, which eliminates the logistical challenges associated with sourcing fresh donor platelets for functional testing.
The Cryoplatelet™ technology also supports other platelet-based testing and blood research applications, creating a broader platform opportunity beyond Retham’s lead diagnostic program.
Retham’s cryopreserved platelet technology was created by the company’s founders Dr. Anand Padmanabhan and Curtis Jones, and incorporates core intellectual property exclusively licensed from Mayo Clinic. Dr. Padmanabhan, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Retham’s Chief Medical Officer, is an internationally recognized expert in platelet immunology and coagulation disorders, including HIT, and along with Mr. Jones, V.P. of Research and Innovation, have authored numerous scientific publications on HIT.
“HIT demands a reliable answer quickly, but access to fresh donor platelets limits functional testing,” said Curtis Jones. “Retham’s technology will decentralize functional HIT testing by incorporating long-term-stable, responsive platelets. Additional potential applications of this technology include platelet immunology, blood research, clinical diagnostics and drug de-risking.”
The seed financing complements $4.8 million in non-dilutive funding from the National Institutes of Health, including a recent $2.8 million Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
“This financing and the NIH SBIR awards validate both the clinical need and Retham’s commercial opportunity,” said Steven Visuri, Ph.D., CEO of Retham Technologies. “We are now well positioned to advance HITDx through clinical validation, FDA 510(k) clearance activities, manufacturing scale up, and commercial readiness with our goal to make highly accurate functional HIT testing practical for routine clinical laboratories and enable faster more informed treatment decisions.”
“Retham combines an urgent clinical need, differentiated proprietary platelet technology and exceptional scientific leadership,” said Dan Sem, general partner at Talents Fund. “We are proud to support the team as it moves HITDx toward the clinical market.”
About Retham Technologies
Retham Technologies, Inc. is a Milwaukee-area clinical diagnostics company developing solutions for platelet-related testing. Its lead product, HITDx™, is a functional diagnostic assay for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia built on proprietary platelet cryopreservation technology. Learn more at www.rethamtechnologies.com.
About Talents Fund
Talents Fund is an institutional seed-stage venture capital firm investing in breakthrough life science companies developing therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare technologies and advanced biomanufacturing. The Fund partners with emerging founders from ecosystems outside coastal venture hubs, combining connected capital and active company building to accelerate long term value. Learn more at www.talentsvcfund.com.
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