Entrepreneurs

Gitte Pedersen

CEO and Co-Founder 

Gitte is a scientist/CEO with a mission to cure cancer. Gitte started Genomic Expression together with her brother, Morten, after her parents were diagnosed with cancer. The company got off the ground as the diagnostic partner of a $32M “Genome Denmark” project, and she then raised money to establish an independent lab in Boston. Gitte’s dream team to cure cancer has tons of start-up experience ranging from genomics to commercial launch of drugs. The unpleasant truth is that only one out of four cancer treatments prolong life. To help rectify this, Genomic Expression finds the best drug for the patient and the best patient for the drug by sequencing RNA, which is like the software of the cell, instead of focusing on DNA, which is like the hard disk. RNA analysis can show if a tumor will respond to new immune therapies, which are the only kind of therapies that offer a potential cure. Genomic Expression reinvented the business model to generate revenue while clinically validating its OneRNA™ platform, and has established four funded clinical programs aiming to introduce OneRNA™ into the standard of care. The concept is“test before you treat,” which will disrupt the current standard of care paradigm that treats 75% of patients without providing them with any benefits. Gitte has a degree in chemical engineering and previously worked for Novo Nordisk, which she left to start her own consulting company which advised the Danish government and a number of biotech companies. In this position, she has structured several deals with an aggregate value of +$1B. Gitte has raised +$6.5M in grants for Genomic Expression, closed +$1M in collaboration deals, and put the company into the top 10 of the XTC competition in 2016, at which Gitte was invited to pitch Richard Branson at Necker Island. She has also risen to the top of a number of other pitch competitions, including MedTech Top 50 Innovator 2017, #2in the Women’s Founders Pitch 2016, Top 5 diagnostic companies at the Molecular Tri-Conference 2016, and the Red Herring Top 100 2016.