AQTUAL NAMES GREGG C. FERGUS TO ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– The announcement follows the company's groundbreaking clinical data presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting
HAYWARD, Calif., Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aqtual, a precision medicine company with a novel cfDNA platform to aid in treatment decisions for chronic diseases and cancers through a simple blood test, announced today that Gregg C. Fergus has joined as a member of its board of directors.
Gregg brings over 30 years of corporate, entrepreneurial, and venture capital experience working with category-defining companies in life sciences.
Gregg was CEO of 4Catalyzer, where he launched groundbreaking companies, including Butterfly Network, Hyperfine, Quantum-Si, and AI Therapeutics. Prior to 4Catalyzer, Gregg was president and COO of Ion Torrent, which sold to Life Technologies and is now a division of Thermo Scientific. Gregg also held senior leadership roles at Baird Venture Partners and Affymetrix. He has founded or sat on the board of numerous companies and non-profit organizations, including Cernostics, Verda Bio, Celsee, iGenomX, Healthy Minds Innovations, and Special Olympics Wisconsin. Gregg currently serves as executive chairman of the board at Ascertain.
"I did a years-long exhaustive search looking for the best-in-class cell-free DNA technology, and Aqtual's platform is set to revolutionize the liquid biopsy space," said Fergus. "Aqtual is unique in that its platform provides an unbiased and comprehensive view of gene expression without the need for RNA, generating an unprecedented amount of clinically useful information from a single blood test. I am thrilled to join the board and support Aqtual's vision."
Gregg joins a board of industry veterans in precision medicine and healthcare, including Aqtual co-founder and CEO Diana Abdeuva, Ph.D., and co-founder and CTO Richard Rava, Ph.D., Jenny Rooke, Ph.D., founder and managing partner of Genoa Ventures, Lawrence Barclay, managing partner of Manta Ray, and PR Yu, Ph.D., managing partner of Yu Galaxy.
Last month, Aqtual presented research at the American College of Rheumatology's annual Convergence meeting, demonstrating that synovial transcriptomic signals were detected in blood plasma using Aqtual's DNA capture platform. The platform was able to comprehensively analyze and characterize molecular signals in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and differentiate those signals from other inflammatory conditions.
The company's proof-of-concept clinical trial, PRIMA-102, will close enrollment in early 2024, with its RA blood test, a classifier capable of predicting effective drug classes for patients, expected to launch in early 2025.
"Our platform is the first to deliver a comprehensive view of gene expression through a blood test, which provides us with unlimited clinical utility," said Diana Abdueva, Ph.D. and CEO of Aqtual. "With Gregg's deep commercial and operational experience, we can accelerate our vision of streamlining therapeutic decisions for patients across the globe."
About Aqtual, Inc.
Aqtual, Inc. is a precision medicine company developing products for chronic disease management and oncology utilizing a novel cell-free DNA-based platform. Aqtual's proprietary platform evaluates protein regulation, epigenetics, and transcriptomics solely using cell-free DNA fragments found in blood. The platform yields efficient and robust real-time analysis of disease and treatment while overcoming the limitations of standard cell-free DNA methodologies.
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SOURCE Aqtual
