Gold Standard Diagnostics

Gold Standard Diagnostics snags Series A funding

Friday, 26 February 2010 00:00

The funding was led by a group of private investors including Roger Salquist. Well known for his local, biotech entrepreneurship, Salquist has more than 35 years of experience as a senior executive in the life sciences industry. In connection with the Series A funding, Salquist has joined GSD's board of directors.

The amount of funding was not released. GSD will use the proceeds from the financing to expand its own product portfolio, and to bolster its sales, marketing and service efforts in the U.S. and Europe, a news release said.

Gold Standard Diagnostics, founded in 2007, provides a wide range of diagnostics solutions to reference and hospital laboratories in North America.

Through its strong relationships with global equipment and reagent manufacturers, GSD provides innovative solutions for laboratories seeking to gain efficiency and reduce costs. GSD's diagnostic assays focus on the areas of infectious disease, immunology, cardiovascular, diabetes and several other diagnostics fields.

'Our goal is to continue our rapid rate of growth by aggressively bringing to market some of the industry's most cost-effective, technology solutions that will change the laboratory diagnostic landscape,' John Griffiths, Gold Standard Diagnostics founder and CEO, said in the release. 'This funding positions us extremely well to continue our strategic growth.'

Prior to founding GSD, Griffiths spent 18 years in various executive sales and marketing roles with diagnostics companies. He has expertise in designing, selling and implementing automated solutions to the leading laboratories in North America.

Salquist said, along with his partners, that he's 'excited to lead the Series A investment.'

'This represents a significant opportunity to develop the gold standard for medical research and laboratory diagnostics services and tools right in the heart of Northern California. We are extremely proud to be a part of the GSD team.'

Salquist was a founding partner and managing director of Bay City Capital, a San Francisco-based merchant bank and venture capital partnership. Previously, he was chairman and CEO of Davis-based Calgene Inc. for 12 years. The agribusiness biotechnology company was acquired by Monsanto Corp. in 1996.

Salquist also has served as chairman of Endosonics Corp., Celtrix Pharmaceutical and, most recently, Lipomics Technologies, a metabolomics diagnostic discovery company. He also served on the board of directors of Collagen Corp. for more than 10 years.