Mitra Biotech gets VC funding

BANGALORE: The Bangalore-based Mitra Biotech, a biology research firm and spin-off from MIT, US, has received venture capital funding from Accel Partners and KITVEN, the Karnataka government-initiated VC fund.

Though the quantum of funding is not known, both the VC firms have acquired a minority stake in Mitra Biotech, which is focussed on personalised treatment of cancer.

Realising that the success rate of cancer treatment through clinical trials is low, largely due to a mismatch of drugs and patients, Mitra is developing an analytical diagnostic platform in consultation with the Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre located within the Narayana Hrudayalaya Health City in Bangalore.

The company has been founded by Dr Mallikarjun Sundaram and Dr Shiladitya Sengupta, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Business School, and MIT professor Charlie Cooney, who also serves on the board of Biocon and Genzyme, among others. Its research will be basically aimed at choosing the drug or treatment suited to the genetic make-up of patients.