Print（PDF/109KB） Jul. 25, 2019 Corporate

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma to Enter Into an Investment Agreement with Drawbridge Health

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Osaka, Japan; Representative Director, President, and CEO: Hiroshi Nomura; hereinafter, “Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma”) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to invest several million dollars in U.S. start-up business Drawbridge Health, Inc. (Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, U.S.; CEO & Board Director: Lee McCracken; hereinafter, “Drawbridge”). Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is not disclosing the exact amount of the investment.

Drawbridge is a healthcare technology company that is developing a blood sampling solution, which will enable simplified collection and transportation of dried blood samples, for clinical lab testing. Drawbridge has the rights to use stabilization technologies developed by GE Healthcare Inc. (hereinafter, “GE Healthcare”) for stabilizing blood samples to support room temperature transport and storage in blood-drawing devices. By integrating its proprietary capillary blood collection and stabilization technologies, Drawbridge aims to integrate comfortable collection, stabilization, and simple transportation of blood samples into one single device. The solution is designed to address the barriers in obtaining a blood sample, providing healthcare providers an easy way to collect samples anywhere and anytime, without any need for specialized training.

With a focus on the three research areas of Psychiatry & Neurology, Oncology, and Regenerative Medicine / Cell Therapy, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is primarily involved in the pharmaceutical business and has identified healthcare areas other than pharmaceuticals as “Frontier Areas” to explore new business opportunities. In addition to acquiring a stake in Drawbridge, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is planning to pursue a frontier business, utilizing Drawbridge’s technology for blood sample collection, with a view toward future opportunities to further improve access to blood collection and testing.　

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■ About Drawbridge Health Inc.

Founded in 2015 by GE Ventures and GE Healthcare, Drawbridge Health is a healthcare technology company focused on reinventing the blood sampling paradigm, enabling comfortable and convenient blood sample collection anytime and anywhere. By integrating engineering and proprietary chemistries, Drawbridge is developing a people-friendly system for collecting and stabilizing blood samples, opening new doors to enable access to important health information. For more information, please visit www.drawbridgehealth.com.