Myomar Molecular hopes to use some of the $1.1 million funding round it just closed to win Health Canada approval for its muscle health test by the end of June, as the company prepares for another raise later this year, CEO Rafaela Andrade said in an interview Friday.

The deal, which included a mix of equity and non-dilutive funding, was led by a Nova Scotia angel investor, with the Atlantic Canadian and Ontario divisions of the Women’s Equity Lab angel network also participating.

“Our strategy was to work with groups of angels that would know us more closely and help us to get to the next level before talking to VCs,” said Andrade. “We thought about having the right technology, with the right value to engage interest from angels that invest in early technology development.”

In late 2023, Myomar finished a round of beta testing for its urine test that measures muscle degeneration, with more ongoing. The first version of the product must be administered by Myomar, which involves the company arranging for the collection and transport of samples to its laboratory. So next year, Andrade plans to add an at-home kit to the product lineup.

“We’re starting the commercialization process by selling directly to physiotherapy clinics and fitness centres,” she said. “So they will buy the technology from us and offer it to their clients, and then everybody that is interested to measure their muscle health will need to go to one of our partners to purchase the test.

“That will be our first go-to-market strategy, and then we’ll expand it with our at-home test.”

Andrade, a biochemist with a PhD from Dalhousie University, founded Myomar in 2021, with an eye towards eventually deploying the technology for monitoring patients with conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The first version of the test will launch initially in the Atlantic provinces, with sales across Canada planned to begin after Myomar’s next capital raise, when the company has more resources to buttress a national launch. Its entry into the United States market will likely come in 2025 or 2026.

Once the version of the test administered by Myomar has cleared its remaining regulatory hurdles, Andrade added, her now-five-person team will turn its attention to the approval process for the at-home kit. That team includes a research scientist who just joined the company, as well as an additional two people who are not directly employed by Myomar, but work on projects for the business.