For helping make the world a better place by offering a solution for more accurate, personalized cancer care. Its proprietary technology, canscript, enables the doctor to make an informed decision regarding the most optimal drug combination and also enables rational drug development.

Mitra Biotech aims to make the world a better place by offering a solution for more accurate, personalized cancer care. Its flagship technology, CANScript, is a multi dimensional platform that determines the most optimal drug combination for a cancer patient by culturing patient’s own tumor tissue in a setting that resembles the human tumor microenvironment. The tumour tissue culture is challenged against various drug combinations to measure various parameters and then determine the most suitable drug using a machine learning algorithm. The platform is personalized to the patient, the type and subtype of tumor and the type of drug that would be tested. The test is not only compatible with chemotherapy but also with other classes of drugs like hormones, immunomodulators, biologicals etc.

Predominantly a R&D-focused company, Mitra has initiated business development since January 2015 and has a workforce of 30, with majority being scientists. Over the last few years, the company has been focussing on sufficient data collection for each type of cancer so the oncologists, its main customers, follow an evidence based approach when they chose Mitra’s services. It has raised two rounds of funds from investors like Accel Partners, Tata Capital Innovations Fund (TCIF), India Innovation Fund (IIF), Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund (KITVEN).

The company is currently offering its service at 10-15 hospitals across India and aims to take this number to above 75 in 3 years with satellite labs across the country. It also aims to expand simultaneously in the US, select parts of Europe and South East Asia.

The platform has a very high sensitivity and specificity, especially in determining the drugs that would not work on a patient. 

It has initiated application process for FDA approval and intends to obtain it in 3 years. Until then, the test would be marketed as a lab based test in collaboration with a number of leading hospital chains in the US.