Rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases at pharmacy

Purpose and goal

The project goal has been to develop an instrument prototype that can be further developed into a commercial product for rapid infection diagnostics and which combines the three project partners´ technologies regarding sample preparation, diagnostics principle and read-out. The obtained project results together with a market analysis give the project partners the possibility to bring the developed prototype further towards commercialization.

Results and expected effects

The project has delivered an instrument prototype for infection diagnostics with a sensitivity of about 10 pM and an analysis time of about 80 min, a market analysis showing that diagnostics of throat infections at pharmacies in Europe has a large market potential with an estimated target market turnover of 3 billion SEK, a competitor situation analysis displaying the unique benefits with the developed prototype as well as a profitability analysis based on European launch in 2018 with suggested pricing. Three possible commercialization pathways have been identified.

Approach and implementation

The project consisted of 4 phases: 1.Planning with in-depth market analysis and plan for the system to be developed. 2. Implementation1 with development of protocols for DNA functionalization of magnetic particles, optimization with target molecule and IPR follow-up. 3. Implementation2 redesigning existing technology platforms. 4. Verification with integration of the modified platforms and final tests with binding of target molecules. The collaboration between the partners has been excellent and all necessary IP for commercialization is available to the project team.