DIANAX is a company founded in 2003, focused on the development and manufacturing of portable devices for clinical diagnostics. The devices are lab-on-chip (term that refers to devices that integrate one or several laboratory functions on a single chip), inexpensive and reliable, which can be used both at home and in emergency situations, without the need for special training and in all environmental conditions.
Thanks to Horizon 2020 SME, the EU programme that provides financial support to small- and medium-sized enterprises for innovative industrial projects, DIANAX has obtained a non-refundable grant of 2 million and 171 thousand euro for the development of a Lab-on-Chip that can diagnose diabetes through the analysis of protein from body fluids such as whole blood or urine.
The project was considered highly innovative in the field of medical diagnostics by the European Commission that evaluated the proposal of the company; the analysis system, portable and easy to use, is a disposable medical device based on a microchip that measures glycosylated hemoglobin using a single drop of blood. These characteristics, together with its low cost, make the device extremely interesting on the market for patients, pharmacies, hospitals and doctor’s offices.
Moreover, the device has greater potential and may be used for the self-monitoring of other protein biomarkers in the blood, urine or saliva, or be used for other applications beyond the medical field, for example in environmental control, biological and medical research and veterinary.
“We are extremely pleased to have received this important funding – said Eugenio Iannone, CEO of DIANAX. We will invest the funds of the European Commission to move from the development phase to the industrial production phase and speed up the entry into the market”.
“DIANAX innovation could help address a number of key diagnostics and medical issues for a large number of patients and for the healthcare system in general – said Francesco Granata, Partner and Advisor of DIANAX -. The possibility to identify biomarkers through a simple measurement that can be made anywhere paves the way, for example, to obtaining measurements in emergency situations or directly at the patient’s home to assess the conditions or treatment effects”.