Osmetech Inc. raised $8.6 million in a stock offering by selling a roughly 30 percent stake to investors.
The London-based molecular diagnostics maker, which has operations in Maynard, said it will name a new board chairmen with deep ties in the diagnostics field.
Christopher Gleeson, the former CEO of Ventana Medical Systems Inc. of Tuscon, Ariz., and a former board member at Roche Diagnostics, will become chairman of the company’s board July 1. Gleeson invested $1 million in Osmetech during the stock sale.
The funding comes just in time, as the company previously warned that its cash supply could only support operations until early July. Company officials said they now have at least enough cash to support operations through 2009.
The company intends to use the proceeds from the sale to continue developing the eSensor XT-8 molecular diagnostics system it’s seeking regulatory approval for as a point-of-care test for the H1N1 Swine Flu virus.
Several other companies are in the mix for developing tests for the virus, including Waltham-based Inverness Medical Innovations Inc..
But Osmetech, which said it expects to launch its test as a “research use only” product next quarter, has taken the lead in submitting its test for Food & Drug Administration approval. The company is also developing an extension to the test to discern the differences between the human and swine subtypes of the H1N1 virus.
Existing investors Efficacy Biotech Master Fund Limited, a San Diego, Calif.-based fund, along with Gartmore Investment Ltd. and Gartmore Fund Managers Ltd., participated in the stock purchase.