Devices & Diagnostics

AIDS test maker Daktari Diagnostics raises $1.8 million

The company makes a hand-held device that decides how well someone can fight an HIV infection. Altogether, the Massachusetts-based company has raised $5 million to develop its AIDS test device.

By MassDevice Staff on November 08, 2010 2:44 am

Daktari Diagnostics Inc. pulled in $1.8 million, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of a point-of-care HIV test raised the equity-based financing from 32 unnamed investors, according to SEC document.

The filing (Opens in a new window) names as directors Norwich Ventures managing director Aaron Sandoski, Mi3 Venture Partners partner Roger Kitterman, MIT Sloan School of Management professor Edward Roberts, SynapDx Corp. founder Stanley Lapidus, and Daktari CEO William Rodriguez. Each one of the men is named on previous securities filings.

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Daktari completed a $2.8 million round (Opens in a new window) in Sept. 2009, which it subsequently added $820,000 (Opens in a new window) to in June.

The company (Opens in a new window)‘s hand-held device is designed to count CD4 cells in the bloodstream and determine the body’s ability to fight infection. CD4 counts also are one of the primary methods to assess the progress of HIV/AIDS. Current testing involves drawing blood from the patient and sending the sample to a lab — a time-consuming and costly process in many parts of Africa and other developing countries where AIDS is prevalent.

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The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal (Opens in a new window) is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.

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