Biosensia Secures $1.6 million in New Investment

Nov. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- Biosensia, an Irish point of care diagnostics company, has secured $1.6 million (€1.2 million) in new funding as part of the company’s plans to advance its regulatory and commercial strategy for its platform in the US and Europe.

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.

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.

The new 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. Biosensia, which is headquartered at NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin, intends to increase staff numbers by 10 within the next two-years as part of its commercialization strategy.

Biosensia’s platform, RapiPlex, is a novel, user-friendly, cost effective, multiplexing point of care in vitro diagnostics platform. It enables the transition of complex immunoassays from the central laboratory to the point of care across a wide variety of sample types. RapiPlex has multiple point of care applications including medical, environmental, food safety and security.

RapiPlex can perform up to 12 separate analyses simultaneously on a single sample and provides test results in as little as 5 minutes.  The RapiPlex platform is also integrated with an optical reader which provides a numerical read-out, which does not require user interpretation.

Announcing the funding Diarmuid Flavin, CEO, 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.” He added, "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, ACT Venture Capital, said, “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.”

ENDS
9 November 2011

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications Manager (Innovation), UCD, t: + 353 1 716 3712, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, or Diarmuid Flavin, CEO, Biosensia, t: +353 1 716 3650, e: diarmuid.flavin@biosensia.com.

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Biosensia is an in-vitro diagnostics company, focused on developing next generation point of care (POC) technology with a broad range of applications. Biosensia has developed RapiPlex, a rapid, novel, multiplexing POC in vitro diagnostics platform, which can be used for a wide range of diagnostic applications. RapiPlex is suitable for use in all immunoassay formats and for multiple POC applications including medical, environmental, food safety and security. Biosensia collaborates with healthcare companies to develop point of care diagnostics products. Biosensia is an independent, venture capital funded company headquartered at NovaUCD. www.biosensia.ie

NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is the hub of innovation and knowledge transfer activities at University College Dublin. NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures high-tech and knowledge-intensive enterprises such as Biosensia. www.ucd.ie/nova