Modicus Prime, resident at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS TMC, announced today the completion of a $3.5M in series seed funding led by Silverton Partners, with additional backing from Alumni Ventures and other leading venture firms. The funding comes following the implementation of the cloud software across multiple global pharmaceutical companies, CMOs, and CDMOs manufacturing biologics, cell and gene therapies, and vaccines.
Modicus Prime’s mpVision is a Pharma 4.0 quality control technology. The cloud software scales GxP-compatible AI models for real-time quality control in commercial manufacturing. As a hardware-agnostic software layer, mpVision is integrated into any camera-equipped device, ranging from microscopes to microflow imaging devices. By ensuring the identity, efficacy, and purity of drug products, mpVision significantly reduces costs and waste from failed batches. Regulatory bodies including the FDA are urging pharmaceutical companies for more in-process monitoring to understand the state of their product at every stage of production, and mpVision enables pharmaceutical companies to accomplish this level of oversight. The outcome of mpVision’s implementation is the reduction of quality control failures costing the industry $50 billion annually.
Modicus Prime’s team is helping drive the industry’s AI movement through keynotes, webinars, guidance documents, and talks informing regulators. Taylor Chartier, Modicus Prime’s CEO, was selected among a group of industry experts to create an Artificial Intelligence Good Practice Guide for the pharmaceutical industry on behalf of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, ISPE. This guidance is the first of its kind for the industry, which has been highly anticipated by the FDA and other policymakers. The guidance is projected to be heavily referenced by pharma’s quality units. In addition, Chartier is spearheading ISPE’s GxP AI Webinar Series with fellow industry experts, which is a 6-part webinar series on implementing AI/ML solutions in GxP environments, from initial concept to final deployment. Over 1000 audience members registered for the webinar series kick-off in March 2024.
A former engineer and data scientist from Shire and Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Chartier states, “When the Modicus Prime team meets with scientists and automation teams at pharma companies, we usually hear about long assay and software turnaround times limiting their ability to take immediate action during commercial production. In response, pharmaceutical domain experts guided the construction of mpVision’s cloud ecosystem to be their natural quality control solution.”
As part of the financing round, Silverton Partners’ Roger Chen joins the Company’s board of directors.
Silverton Partner Roger Chen states, “This company is responding to the pharmaceutical industry’s current demands, delivering a welcomed cloud technology that’s already yielding practical results. We are very enthusiastic about supporting this movement.”
Modicus Prime’s team has also been informed by a former FDA CBER Division of Manufacturing Product Quality Inspector that they have long awaited this technology, mpVision, which is a significant testament to the software’s impact to the industry. Modicus Prime will be using this new capital to further service their international pharmaceutical customers with additional customer support.
About Modicus Prime
Modicus Prime’s computer vision software automates biologics image analysis and is designed to solve for the cost, legal, and waste liabilities from product quality failures. As a Johnson & Johnson JLABS resident at the Texas Medical Center, Modicus Prime is venture-backed and has strategic partnerships with organizations including Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE), Dotmatics, and eLabNext (Eppendorf). Current implementation areas for the software include biologics, cell and gene therapies, and vaccines for pharmaceutical manufacturing, CMOs, and CDMOs.
About Silverton Partners
The Silverton team partners with entrepreneurs who are dedicated to tackling growth markets and building lasting companies. In partnering with Silverton, companies benefit from its vast network and expertise from decades of growing and investing in successful businesses. Founded in 2006, Silverton Partners is based in Austin, TX, and was the initial institutional investor for Sailpoint, WP Engine, SpareFoot, TrendKite, TurnKey Vacation Rentals, The Zebra, AlertMedia, SpyCloud, Self Financial, Billie, and Aceable among others. For more information, visit www.silvertonpartners.com.
