Biosensia

Biosensia secures new investment totaling Euro 1.2 million

New funding will see new point of care diagnostic platform technology through to regulatory approval and commercial partnerships

Dublin, 9^th November, 2011: Biosensia, a point of care diagnostics company, has secured Euro 1.2 million investment in its most recent funding round, as part of the company’s plans to advance its regulatory and commercial strategy for its platform in Europe and the US.

The funding round was led by ACT Venture Capital, through its AIB Start-up Accelerator Fund, and included existing investors Seroba BioVentures and Atlantic Bridge.

The funding will be used to secure CE mark and FDA regulatory approval for Biosensia’s products in Europe and the US and advance its commercial partnership strategy. There is a significant unmet need for more convenient, accurate and affordable point of care solutions, and Biosensia is poised to become a major player in the development of next-generation, point of care diagnostic products.

Biosensia’s platform, RapiPlex, is a novel, user-friendly, cost effective, multiplexing point of care in vitro diagnostics platform that gives access to a broad range of diagnostic applications including acute phase diagnostics, prognostic diagnostic panels and companion diagnostics at the point of care. RapiPlex enables the transition of complex immunoassays from the central laboratory to the point of care across a wide variety of samples types.

Diarmuid Flavin, CEO of Biosensia, said: “This is an exciting time in Biosensia. Our commercialization plans and technology are progressing rapidly. With this financing, the company can further capitalize on its revolutionary RapiPlex technology. We see a significant market demand across a range of diagnostic applications for our RapiPlex platform.”

“We are delighted to have ACT Venture Capital as a new investor in Biosensia as well as the continued support of Seroba and Atlantic Bridge. We have a great product and this investment will allow us to complete regulatory requirements in the US and Europe, and seek partners to expand into new market opportunities.”

John O’Sullivan, Director at ACT Venture Capital, added: “The RapiPlex platform has huge potential across a broad range of applications, making this a great investment opportunity for ACT. We look forward to working with the Biosensia team as they progress to commercialization.”

The Irish Times - Friday, August 26, 2011

Diagnosing a gap in the medical market

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BIOSENSIA: With healthcare systems worldwide under pressure to tighten their belts, the launch of a fast and cost-effective new diagnostic kit from Irish life sciences company Biosensia is timely.

Biosensia has developed a point-of-care diagnostic system called RapiPlex that can be used by GPs or in hospital settings to take and test patient samples (for example blood or urine) and give a result in minutes. Normally this can take several days if taken by a GP and a number of hours if taken in hospital.

Other innovative aspects of the system that differentiate it from its competitors are that it can analyse up to 12 different aspects of the sample at once and it works with a range of samples from whole blood and serum to plasma and saliva. Most existing tests are specific to one type of sample. The kit comes in two parts – a disposable cartridge for capturing the sample and a bench-top reader that interprets the result of the test.

Biosensia was set up in 2008 to develop a roadside drug-testing kit for use by law- enforcement agencies. Since then the company has changed direction and set its sights on developing a product that would allow it to break into the much broader and potentially more lucrative world of human clinical testing. The value of this market worldwide is estimated to be in excess of $30 billion, according to a 2007 report by Clinica.

While the software driving the multi-patented system is highly complex, the system itself is very easy to use and does not require those operating it to have specialist skills. Biosensia is based at Nova in University College Dublin’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre and is now in the final stages of preparing its product for market.

The company employs five people and this is set to rise to 15 as the product nears its commercial launch. It will be launched in the US and Europe simultaneously and it is currently going through the approval process demanded by the US Federal Drugs Authority.

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Link to original article.

DUBLIN, Ireland, 01 August, 2009:

Biosensia today announced that it had been awarded a share of InterTradeIreland’s €4 million INNOVA R&D programme.

Biosensia will receive up to €300,000 from cross-border business and development body InterTradeIreland. The funds, awarded through InterTradeIreland’s Innova R&D programme, are designed to reward and encourage ambitious companies on both sides of the border to combine their respective strengths to develop new product offerings and compete on the international stage.

InterTradeIreland Chief Executive Liam Nellis said: “Innova helps companies to work together to develop new products with demonstrable commercial potential and bring them to market faster than if they were working alone. Each application is technically, commercially and financially assessed by a team of experts and the competition is tough. Companies that have made it onto the programme should be very proud of their achievement.”

Under the programme, Dublin-based Biosensia will now collaborate with Marturion Ltd. in Lisburn to develop a next generation point-of-care diagnostic tool which could take testing out of the laboratory and onto hospital wards and bedsides.

Commenting on the collaboration Diarmuid Flavin, COO of Biosensia said “the investment in this R&D project is part of Biosensia’s ongoing commitment to expanding the capabilities of in-vitro diagnostic technologies. We are delighted to have secured InterTradeIreland funding, and look forward to working with Marturian and developing highly innovative and cost-effective point of care instrument technologies.”

Headquartered in Nova, University College Dublin, Ireland, Biosensia is poised to become a major player in the development of next-generation, point of care diagnostics. Its latest innovation, RapiPlex, is a novel, user-friendly, cost effective, multiplexing point of care (POC) in vitro diagnostics platform that gives access to a broad range of diagnostic applications.
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For further information, please contact info@biosensia.com