From: Teknovation
Author: Tom Ballard
The long-term vision involves everything from R&D to commercialization with testing at the heart of the services the company will provide.
The new year brings exciting new opportunities for New Day Diagnostics LLC.
Formerly known locally as EDP Biotech Corporation, the Knoxville-based company announced a merger with Boca Raton, FL-based New Day in early July 2023 (see teknovation.biz article here) and elected to retain the New Day name, at least in part to represent the opportunities that the combined entity would have. Within three weeks, the combined company announced an asset purchase agreement with Epigenomics AG, a Berlin-based company that had the only blood-based test for cancer approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“That acquisition gave us access to 450 patents and several thousand clinical trial approvable samples,” said Eric Mayer, Chief Executive Officer of New Day Diagnostics. Now, the company that was founded by Tom Boyd in 2005 is exploring opportunities for those patents that could include new products as well as selling or licensing them.
“We are the right partners to rebrand and relaunch the technology,” he says. To do so, an early priority is to recover the Medicare approval that Epigenomics AG lost in 2020.
As we talked with Mayer about 2024 and beyond, we could not help but recall the phrase first coined by the philosopher Aristotle that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Combining the two companies and acquiring the intellectual property of a third brings the critical mass of infrastructure and other assets that should result in several new product launches as well as a continuation of services launched during COVID-19.
“We are a fully integrated, dynamic powerhouse,” Mayer says. “It’s all coming together.”
He explains that New Day Diagnostics’ long-term vision involves everything from R&D to commercialization with testing at the heart of the services the company will provide.
“Tests like those for COVID-19 will become much more common for other ailments like seasonal flu and, like COVID testing, offered as an over-the-counter product,” Mayer says.
For now, the New Day Diagnostic team is focused on three products.
- ColoPlexTM, the signature secondary test that EDP Biotech had developed for those who want to better assess the need for a colonoscopy;
- ColoHealth, the primary test developed by Epigenomics AG for those who refuse to have a colonoscopy; and
- ColoPlex Plus, a future high-performance tool for everyone who needs testing for colorectal cancer.
Mayer says that additional tests are expected to be developed for prostate and ovarian cancer as well as Celiac disease and H. pylori.
“Women’s health will be an emphasis in 2024,” he adds.
New Day Diagnostics will also continue to support clinical trials and work with underserved populations.
To fuel its growth, the company is raising a $15 million round, and Mayer says it is almost halfway there with commitments or money in the bank. Those funds will support product development and infrastructure.
“Our name matches our philosophy,” he says, explaining that “you are much better tomorrow if you can treat it today.”