Octave Bioscience Closes $30M Extension to Series B Funding

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Octave Bioscience, a leading precision care company focused on delivering a new standard of care for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases today announced the closing of a $30M extension to its Series B funding round. The round included participation from new strategic investors: Novartis (dRx Capital); Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ venture capital arm, Hikma Ventures; and Intermountain Ventures, as well as participation by all existing investors including The Blue Venture Fund, Echo Health Ventures, Section 32, Northpond Ventures, Deerfield Management, Casdin Capital, and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. This funding will further accelerate commercialization efforts to bring Octave’s multimodal solution to more multiple sclerosis patients.

“The strength and breadth of our investment partners illustrate the impact our solution has across the entire healthcare ecosystem – physicians, payers, pharma, and most importantly, patients,” said William Hagstrom, Octave’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “With our multimodal precision care solution, we are providing tools, insights, and a platform that enable a personalized approach to patient care, better treatment decisions and improved outcomes. We have made significant progress in deploying our solution for multiple sclerosis patients. We appreciate our forward-thinking investors that recognize and value our strategy and approach, and support this important mission.”

Octave offers a complete precision care solution that combines blood biomarkers, expanded imaging capabilities, and clinical insights for a comprehensive view of the patient, including disease activity levels and disease progression. These objective insights provide providers, payers, pharma, and patients with the tools needed to better measure, monitor, and more effectively manage these conditions. Commercially launched in late 2022, Octave is in use in multiple MS Centers of Excellence, academic centers, and high-volume independent clinics across the country. The company is actively engaged with expanding physician partnerships as well as providing its precision care capabilities to address the challenges, issues, and unmet needs throughout the MS ecosystem, including pharmaceutical companies and health plans. The company is also committed to building collaborations and partnerships over time in a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

“We are impressed with Octave’s comprehensive solution and its ability to help address the immense unmet need for patients with neurodegenerative diseases,” said Lana Ghanem, Managing Director of Hikma Ventures. “By offering an end-to-end solution which optimizes and personalizes care, Octave is revolutionizing the way MS is treated and managed. Octave has made tremendous progress in MS, and we’re thrilled to support their important mission.”

“Intermountain Ventures is committed to investing in innovative solutions that address unmet clinical needs, and Octave does exactly that for multiple sclerosis patients,” said Nickolas Mark, Managing Director and Partner at Intermountain Ventures. “MS varies significantly from person to person, but existing diagnostic and treatment methods fall woefully short of capturing the nuances that ultimately have a massive impact on patients’ quality of life and outcomes. Octave’s precision care is a beacon of hope for the 1 million people in this country living with this disease.”

The strategic investor mix from across the ecosystem demonstrates the value and support in the Octave solution and its ability to improve the patient care paradigm in neurodegenerative diseases.

About Octave Bioscience

Octave Bioscience is a commercial stage precision-medicine company delivering a new paradigm of care for multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. Octave’s Precision Care Solution is the industry’s first set of measurement tools that accurately and objectively measure disease activity, progression, and severity, allowing for better management of complex and high-cost neurodegenerative diseases, starting with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Octave’s platform includes the first and only multivariate blood test to measure MS Disease Activity, enhanced MRI analytics and protocols, and a clinical care program that tracks and connects patients with MS nurse practitioners in real time. By combining and analyzing multiple biological and contextual layers of data, delivering longitudinal and holistic perspectives of each patient, and revealing insights at population levels, the Octave Solution addresses unmet needs across the entire ecosystem of care, from patients and providers to pharma and payers. Octave is currently collaborating with leading clinics, payers, and pharma companies across the country.

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