Altratech’s UbiHealth handheld system takes HIV testing out of the clinic and accelerates outcomes.
Cork-based diagnostics start-up Altratech has been authorised for a €10.5m funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator to develop a handheld system which may check for viral ailments.
The medtech agency has developed a patented molecular testing system referred to as ‘UbiHealth’ that allows exact diagnostics that may be carried out outdoors of medical environments.
Altratech mentioned this handheld system that integrates silicon chips and nanotechnology can “dramatically enhance” the accessibility of molecular testing, and supply “on-the-spot, dependable” check outcomes.
UbiHealth can conduct viral-load diagnostics, for instance to detect HIV biomarkers in a blood pattern. The agency mentioned that the funding from EIC will enable the corporate to conduct medical trials on HIV sufferers and scale-up manufacturing and product improvement over the following three years.
Moreover, Altratech plans to enhance the potential of this system to additionally embody serology (the diagnostics of antibodies within the blood), it mentioned.
“This award from the EIC together with the continued assist from Enterprise Eire will allow us to conduct each pre-clinical and medical trials on the preliminary utility of this expertise,” mentioned Dr Tara Dalton, the CEO of Altratech.
“Moreover, we are able to lengthen our product choices into different ailments, constructing a powerful pipeline primarily based on this modern resolution.”
Chatting with SiliconRepublic.com final yr, Dalton, who works on the College of Limerick, mentioned that the pandemic “uncovered the necessity to take diagnostic instruments out of medical settings and into the neighborhood”.
“Altratech is responding to that want.”
Enterprise Eire leads the Nationwide Help Community for Horizon Europe by which it helps Irish deep-tech corporations to win funding from EIC funding programmes.
Marina Donohoe, the pinnacle of analysis and innovation at Enterprise Eire mentioned Eire’s success with EIC funding “shines a highlight on the innovation and functionality of Irish corporations to compete on a world stage”. Irish establishments have been awarded about €500m in funding underneath the EIC accelerator to this point.
In 2021, Altratech raised €5m in a funding spherical led by the Financial institution of Eire Kernel Capital Progress Fund, Infinity Capital and Enterprise Eire. Beforehand, the start-up acquired funding underneath the Horizon 2020 program, which Dalton mentioned, “underpins the corporate’s scientific discoveries”.
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