Tasso-M20 Device Earns CE Mark Certification for At-Home, Self-Sampling Blood Collection

Leading European pharmaceutical companies are using the device across multiple virtual clinical trials to gather unprecedented amounts of pharmacokinetic data

SEATTLE – May 19, 2021 – Tasso Inc., a pioneer in clinical-grade, at-home, self-sampling blood collection, today announced that its Tasso-M20 device has received a CE (Conformité Européene) Mark certification and has successfully fulfilled all of the European Union’s performance, safety, and relevant product requirements. With this marking, Tasso is now able to provide pharmaceutical companies, leading medical institutions, and government health centers across the European Union and other CE Mark geographies with a best-in-class diagnostic experience for their patients.

The Tasso-M20 device enables pharmaceutical companies to offer a convenient, engaging, and friendly decentralized blood testing solution that ultimately results in faster and simpler clinical trials. The Tasso-M20 was designed to collect, store, and transport samples for analysis related to drug level or biomarker monitoring that include small molecules, proteins, antibodies, or nucleic acids. Four dried samples with a controlled volume of 20μL (roughly equivalent to two 6 mm traditional DBS spots), can be collected by patients at home, stably shipped, and processed at qualified laboratories. Tasso also provides companies with easy shipping and logistics support to further simplify the entire workflow.

“We are now witnessing a complete paradigm shift toward convenient patient care, with telemedicine appointments, virtual clinical trials, and remote patient monitoring applications all rising in prevalence. These decentralized health applications will persist beyond the COVID-19 pandemic because they empower more actionable clinical data and better outcomes for patients,” said Ben Casavant, PhD, CEO and Co-founder of Tasso. “The Tasso-M20 device is the first product of its kind to offer a convenient, clinical-grade, and virtually painless blood collection experience. We are excited to now make it broadly available across the European Union and enable more customers to benefit from faster, simpler, decentralized clinical trials.”

The Tasso-M20 whole dried blood sample device complements the Tasso-SST device for liquid blood diagnostics. Leading global academic medical institutions, government agencies, and pharmaceutical organizations are adopting Tasso products for a wide variety of applications, including chronic disease monitoring, infectious disease surveillance, athletic and sports testing, virtual clinical trials, and global health. The company announced an oversubscribed $17 million Series A financing round and has been using the proceeds to scale manufacturing and operations to meet increased demand for its portfolio of Tasso products.

About Tasso

Tasso is an emerging healthcare company that is transforming the traditional blood collection process with a more convenient and virtually painless approach that focuses on the patient. The company’s devices allow people to collect blood with the push of a button from the comfort and privacy of their home, and then mail the samples back to a qualified laboratory for analysis. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Tasso is privately held and funded by grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the National Institutes of Health, by investments from Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Foresite Capital, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars Sinai, and by co-development deals with various industry leaders. For more information, please visit www.tassoinc.com and follow @tassoinc.

Tasso, the Tasso logo, and Tasso OnDemand are trademarks of Tasso Inc. All other brands may be trademarks of their respective holders.

Media Contact

Andrew Noble

(415) 722-2129

andrew@bioscribe.com

Tasso Secures $17 Million Series A Financing to Scale Production of At-Home Blood Collection Systems and Capitalize on Growing Demand for Remote Diagnostic Testing

Funding round led by Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures and included Foresite Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars-Sinai

SEATTLE – July 22, 2020 – Tasso Inc., a pioneer in clinical-grade, at-home, self-sampling blood collection, today announced it has completed an oversubscribed $17 million Series A financing round. The company will use the proceeds to scale manufacturing and operations to meet the increased demand for its line of innovative Tasso OnDemand devices, which enable people to collect their own blood using a virtually painless process from anywhere at any time. These fast and easy-to-use products are being adopted by leading academic medical institutions, government agencies, comprehensive cancer centers, and pharmaceutical organizations around the world.

The Series A financing round was led by Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures and included participation from Foresite Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars-Sinai. As part of the investment, Elizabeth Hambrecht, Partner at Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures, has joined Tasso’s Board of Directors. To date, Tasso has now raised a total of $38.6 million from grants, private investments, and co-development collaborations. 

“With its talented team and proven technology platform, Tasso is poised to transform the traditional, painful, in-person blood draw process, which has been the standard of care for the past six decades,” said Ms. Hambrecht. “Tasso continues to consistently exceed our expectations with all of its co-development collaborations, even amid these unprecedented market challenges. We look forward to supporting the Tasso team on its journey to realizing the full potential of its platform.”

“The Merck Global Health Innovation Fund was established to enable companies like Tasso, to scale proven technology platforms that can become integral parts of our global healthcare ecosystem in support of enhancing patient health outcomes,” said Muna Bhanji, Senior Vice President of Global Market Access at Merck. “The Tasso OnDemand products will lead to a more patient-centric healthcare and clinical trial experience that will enable the collection of more reliable and actionable clinical data.”

The US telemedicine market was valued at $6.61 billion in 2019* and is expected to grow exponentially due to the coronavirus pandemic and rising needs for more efficient, patient-friendly, and remote solutions. Tasso’s OnDemand devices enable people to collect their own blood without any training, all from the comfort and privacy of their home. The samples are then mailed to a CLIA-certified, high-complexity clinical laboratory for analysis. The products are currently being validated for a wide variety of applications, including routine diagnostics, chronic disease monitoring, infectious disease surveillance, athletic and sports testing, virtual clinical trials, global health, and healthcare for under-served populations.  

“The coronavirus pandemic has underscored the surging demand for more diagnostic solutions that are patient-friendly and can be deployed easily at home,” said Ben Casavant, PhD, CEO and Co-founder of Tasso. “The Tasso OnDemand devices are enabling people to be tested for COVID-19 and many other routine diagnostic applications, from anywhere at any time. This funding round is a strong validation of our approach and will allow us to build on our recent successes and enhance the platform with new value-added services in the future.”

About Tasso 

Tasso is an emerging healthcare company that is transforming the traditional blood collection process with a more convenient and virtually painless approach that focuses on the patient. The company’s OnDemand devices allow people to collect blood with the push of a button from the comfort and privacy of their home, and then mail the samples back to a qualified laboratory for analysis. Headquartered in Seattle, Tasso is privately held and funded by grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the National Institutes of Health, by investments from Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Foresite Capital, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars Sinai, and by co-development deals with various industry leaders. For more information, please visit www.tassoinc.com and follow @tassoinc.

Tasso, the Tasso logo, and Tasso OnDemand are trademarks of Tasso Inc. All other brands may be trademarks of their respective holders.

*https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-telemedicine-market/request-for-sample.

Media Contact
Andrew Noble 
(415) 722-2129
andrew@bioscribe.com

Tasso Raises $6.1M to Bring Effortless Blood Collection into the Home

SEATTLE, WA – March 5, 2019 – Tasso, Inc. has completed a $6.1 million financing round led by Vertical Venture Partners (“VVP”), with participation from Techstars and Cedars-Sinai. This funding will help Tasso scale its first product Tasso OnDemand, which enables self-collection of blood samples, and grow the team to support significant commercial interest.

Tasso OnDemand will transform how patients engage with blood testing, optimizing drug efficacy, safety, and adherence. By enabling frequent data on vital blood markers, researchers will obtain unique insight during drug development and healthcare practitioners will better manage care, selecting the best drug for each patient, minimizing side effects, and ensuring high adherence to treatment. Tasso OnDemand is anticipated to be available for purchase in Q2 2019.

“We are excited to work with VVP on furthering our mission of patient-centric blood collection,” said Ben Casavant, co-founder and CEO of Tasso. “With the additional support of Techstars and Cedars-Sinai, we are well positioned to transform clinical blood testing by making it painless and convenient. We also provide additional value beyond the blood draw with accurate and timely results that engage everyone involved.”

“We are excited to back the exceptional team at Tasso. The company is exciting because it has visibility on near-term commercial opportunities with pharmaceutical and lab partners, as well as long-term potential to change the front-end collection for virtually all diagnostics,” said Brad Corona, Partner at VVP. “Blood collection hasn’t changed in decades, and judging from the strong early interest from commercial partners, it’s time.”

This funding builds upon $13.1 million of grant funding received from DARPA, DTRA, and NIH, which enabled Tasso to develop the core technology that powers Tasso’s platform and ensure high-quality high-volume blood draws.

About Tasso Inc.

Tasso’s lead product, Tasso OnDemand allows people to collect blood from the comfort and privacy of their home and mail the samples back to the lab for analysis. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Tasso is privately held and funded by grants from DARPA, DTRA and the NIH, by investments from Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars Sinai, and by co-development deals with various industry leaders. For more information please visit tassoinc.com and follow @tassoinc.

Press Contact

Ben Casavant
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
608-618-0815
press@tassoinc.com

Tasso and partners receive $4.25M to develop a universal surveillance platform for infectious disease outbreaks

MANASSAS, Va. — September 28, 2017 — Tasso, Inc. (Tasso), Ceres Nanosciences (Ceres), George Mason University (Mason), and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) today announced the commencement of an $11.7 million program, funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), to develop a reliable, safe, and simple universal surveillance platform for infectious disease outbreaks. During this multi-year program, which will be initiated with $4.25 million in funding from DTRA, Ceres will integrate its Nanotrap® particle technology, which can capture, concentrate, and preserve pathogens and other biomolecules, into Tasso’s HemoLink™ device for simple and painless collection of large-volume capillary blood samples in remote environments.

Tasso and Ceres will work in close collaboration with infectious disease experts and advanced biodefense laboratories at Mason and USAMRIID to develop an effective disease surveillance platform that can be rapidly deployed in the field, operated by untrained users, and improve early response. The platform will combine the Nanotrap® and HemoLink™ technologies to safely and reproducibly collect, preserve, and transport blood-borne pathogens.

“Infectious diseases remain one of the main causes of death worldwide and a significant threat to national security,” said Dr. Kylene Kehn-Hall of Mason. “In just the last five years, for example, epidemics of Ebola, Chikungunya, and Zika viruses, usually restricted to tropical climates, have reached the United States.”

“When a new outbreak occurs, public health officials quickly need as much information as possible about the pathogen(s) causing the outbreak to determine how to control it,” said Dr. Louis Altamura of USAMRIID. “Analyzing clinical samples from infected patients is one of the best ways to get that information, but existing blood sample collection and screening methods can expose healthcare workers and laboratory technicians to pathogens, presenting safety concerns for these workers and potentially contributing to the spread of the epidemic.”

“We have demonstrated already that Nanotrap® particles can be used to enrich pathogens like influenza from biological samples and stabilize them for improved downstream analysis,” said Ben Lepene, CTO of Ceres Nanosciences. “We’re very excited to work with Tasso, Mason, and USAMRIID to apply that same approach to enrich and stabilize from blood a wide range of host biomarkers along with viral and bacterial pathogens that represent a risk to the U.S. Department of Defense.”

“There is an urgent need for an easier way to reach people in rural or hard-to-reach environments to provide health experts with the information they need to make effective decisions in a timely manner. Integrating the Nanotrap® particle technology and the simple HemoLink™ blood collection technology will enable acquiring samples from populations in outbreak regions without putting phlebotomists or patients at risk or requiring burdensome logistical networks,” said Dr. Erwin Berthier, VP of R&D at Tasso. “The integrated device will be rapidly and safely deployable in any environment and will collect a large volume of capillary blood that can be shipped over long distances while retaining its clinical relevance.”

About Tasso, Inc.
Tasso is a Seattle, WA, based startup focusing on improving healthcare and the diagnostics process by developing more accessible and convenient blood collection and shipping methods that can reach people in any location or environment. Tasso originated from technology developed in the University of Wisconsin-Madison and assembles a highly qualified team of biomedical engineers, hematology researchers, human-factor designers, and clinical experts that have successfully developed the HemoLink. The HemoLink was developed with funding from the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Tasso is an open and collaborative company that focuses on working with leading technological and clinical partners to deliver reliable and disruptive diagnostic innovations. Learn more at www.tassoinc.com

Press Contact:
Ben Casavant
Tasso, Inc.
262-323-1415
ben@tassoinc.com

About Ceres Nanosciences, Inc.
Ceres Nanosciences is a privately held company, located in Prince William County, Virginia, focused on the development of research and diagnostic products using its unique and proprietary Nanotrap® particle technology. The Nanotrap® particle technology provides powerful biomarker capture and biofluid sample processing capabilities for a wide array of diagnostic applications and sample handling needs. The Nanotrap® particle technology was invented at George Mason University and developed under funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With support from the NIH, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Commonwealth of Virginia, Ceres is focused on incorporating this technology into a range of innovative diagnostic products. 

Press Contact:
Ross M. Dunlap
Ceres Nanosciences, Inc.
1.800.615.0418 ext. 202
rdunlap@ceresnano.com

About George Mason University
George Mason University is Virginia’s largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls more than 36,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity, and commitment to accessibility. Mason is also one of the best values in higher education, producing graduates who lead all Virginia schools with the highest annual salaries. George Mason University's National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases is a $50 million, 52,000-square-foot, stand-alone, high-security facility located adjacent to GMU’s Prince William Campus in Manassas, Virginia. The facility features more than 18,500 square feet of lab space comprising BSL-2 open-design laboratories with cell culture suites, preparation areas, and a microscopy room; ABSL-2 rooms, a surgery suite; BSL-3 laboratories; and ABSL-3 suites and a necropsy suite. The facility is fully approved and licensed for select agent work by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Press Contact:
Michele McDonald
George Mason University
703-993-3779
mmcdon15@gmu.edu 

About USAMRIID
USAMRIID’s mission is to provide leading edge medical capabilities to deter and defend against current and emerging biological threat agents. Research conducted at USAMRIID leads to medical solutions—vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and information—that benefit both military personnel and civilians. The Institute plays a key role as the lead military medical research laboratory for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense. USAMRIID is a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. For more information, visit www.usamriid.army.mil. [The information contained in this press release does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Government and no official endorsement should be inferred.]

Press Contact:
Caree Vander Linden
U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
301.619.2285
teresa.l.vanderlinden.civ@mail.mil

Tasso simplifies blood draws, awarded $3M expansion

ADISON, Wis., April 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- 

Tasso, Inc., a medtech start-up developing the HemoLink™, a small disposable device to simplify blood sampling, has secured an additional $2.9M in grant funding to advance its HemoLink technology with its development partner GenTegra LLC.

Based on progress made in developing the HemoLink, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has expanded Tasso's ongoing Phase II SBIR contract. Tasso and GenTegra are developing an integrated device that is able to collect blood from patients and stabilize biomarkers at ambient temperatures without requiring cold chain transportation. The stabilization component of the grant is a $1.3M allocation to GenTegra LLC, whose Matrix Chaperone™ technology is redefining the boundaries of ambient sample stabilization.

Dr. Erwin Berthier, VP of Tasso and principal investigator on the contract, emphasized, "This is a disruptive technology that will enable connecting anyone in the world - from home, rural areas, low resource locations, or war zones - to a centralized blood analysis laboratory, providing affordable cutting edge diagnostics to everyone."

The HemoLink device safely collects blood from the surface of the skin, effectively replacing the need for venipuncture across a broad number of diagnostic tests.  The Matrix Chaperone stabilizes biospecimens at a broad range of ambient temperatures in order to preserve the vast diagnostic data offered by a blood sample. This combination of disruptive technologies fundamentally changes the way blood testing is done, replacing hospital-centric testing with testing focused on the user. Tasso President, Ben Moga states, "Together, this powerful HemoLink-Matrix Chaperone combination will modernize the diagnostic process by providing superior and affordable 'in home' and 'point of care' access to healthcare."

Bruce Jamieson, CEO of GenTegra, offers, "GenTegra is pleased to be working with the innovative HemoLink device that Tasso is developing as an alternative to venipuncture blood collection. As a part of the HemoLink device our stabilization chemistry, Matrix Chaperone, stabilizes the blood in dry form for convenient shipping and any queue time at the clinical lab while waiting for diagnostic testing. The temperature range that is protected coincides with commercial carriers' specifications, enabling the shipment of specimens in a simple mailer - free from cold chain requirements. The combination of a simple blood collection device and stabilization of the specimen at ambient temperatures will open many possibilities for new innovative 'in home' and 'point-of-care' sample collection scenarios."

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Tasso, Inc. simplifies blood sampling, secures $2.3M

MADISON, Wis., Feb. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- 

Tasso, Inc., a medtech start-up developing a wearable blood draw device, has secured $2.3M in grant funding for its HemoLink­™ technology.

After a successful SBIR Phase I, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has granted the company an additional $1.75M in a Phase II effort to demonstrate large volume sample acquisition from the capillary bed. The NIH, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, has also granted the company a Phase I SBIR of $400k in an effort to provide better health care for underprivileged populations.

Professor David Beebe, recently named to the board of directors, comments, "Tasso has generated data that demonstrates a 200 microliter blood draw with a proprietary microfluidic platform. This is a significant achievement in the field of blood sample acquisition and I am excited about its potential for collecting even larger volumes."

With the R&D effort advancing at full steam, the company has turned its eye toward commercialization of the technology. Ms. Dominique Freeman, a seasoned Medical Device and Life Sciences executive, has been recruited to the board of directors. Additionally, Mr. Benjamin Moga will expand his role from Chairman of the Board to lead commercial efforts as President.

"We have compelling data, a motivated management team, and an unmet clinical need in a growing market," says Mr. Moga. "Expanding home care by enabling safe and convenient blood draws for clinical diagnosis and monitoring is exactly the kind of innovation that improves outcomes without raising healthcare costs."

SOURCE Tasso, Inc.