ROTTERDAM (the Netherlands), SAN DIEGO (USA), December 21, 2021: today, SkylineDx announced it received a capital investment from USA based investment and advisory firm Novalis LifeSciences, and one of Benelux’ largest biotech investors Van Herk Investments, to further solidify its position in the USA dermatology diagnostics market. SkylineDx is at a critical growth stage in their development now that the first products are introduced to the USA market, and Novalis LifeSciences has demonstrated impressive successes with their strategic and operational advice to their portfolio companies. Marijn E. Dekkers, founder and chairman of Novalis LifeSciences, will be named board member of SkylineDx’ Board of Directors. He brings a long track record of industry-related strategic leadership experience as the former CEO of Bayer AG (Leverkussen, Germany), CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltman, MA, USA) and his role in the recent 600M USD acquisition of Decipher Biosciences by Veracyte.
SkylineDx’ dermatology program, often referred to as the Falcon R&D Program, currently overarches four dedicated dermatology initiatives, focused on prognostic and predictive biomarker development covering two skin cancers: melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma. These indications affect approximately 1.9 million patients annually in the United States only. One of these initiatives generated its first commercially available product, branded as Merlin Test, for which SkylineDx aims to accelerate the clinical adoption with this joint investment.
“It is a great honor to have Marijn and Novalis LifeSciences as our first specialized USA investor on board, with all their incredible experience and know-how”, comments Dharminder Chahal, CEO SkylineDx. “Together we aim to further extend SkylineDx’ USA investor base and continue expanding our strong footprint there. Our mission is to improve a patient’s quality of life by enabling them to benefit from personal insights at the genomic level of their disease. We are excited to be working with Marijn and his team to continue fulfilling this mission”.
Marijn Dekkers comments: “I have monitored the progress of SkylineDx for several years now, and I am excited about the leading edge position the company has built in predictive biomarkers for melanoma and various other cancers. I very much look forward to working with the SkylineDx team to bring these sophisticated diagnostic tests to patients around the globe”.
About SkylineDx
SkylineDx is a biotechnology company, focused on research & development of molecular diagnostics in oncology and inflammatory diseases. The company is headquartered in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and complemented with a field medical and scientific affairs team in the USA and a CAP/CLIA certified laboratory in San Diego (California). SkylineDx uses its expertise to bridge the gap between academically discovered gene expression signatures and commercially available diagnostic products with high clinical utility, assisting healthcare professionals in accurately determining the type or status of disease or predict a patient’s response to treatment. Based on test results, healthcare professionals can tailor the treatment approach to the individual patient. To learn more about SkylineDx, please visit www.skylinedx.com. For more information on Falcon R&D Program or Merlin Test, please visit www.falconprogram.com.
About Novalis LifeSciences
Novalis LifeSciences LLC is a boutique investment and advisory firm that was founded in 2017 by Marijn E. Dekkers, and is based in Hampton, NH, USA. With a team of experienced operating executives from the Life Science industry, Novalis funds and advises visionary Life Science entrepreneurs. The firm has approximately USD 500M under management in two investment funds. To learn more about Novalis LifeScienes, please visit www.novalislifesciences.com.
