A revolution with regulatory approval. The system of Abionic for meaningful allergy tests in doctor’s offices and pharmacies shakes up a market worth billions in revenue.

Source: venturelab.ch – 13 october 2015

Abionic has been located in the EPFL Innovation Park in Lausanne since it was founded five years ago. Although the company has increased the number of rooms it rents on-site, space is beginning to get rather tight. The number of employees is growing steadily. A team of 19 people now works for the fledgling medical technology company. An experienced marketing manager started at Abionic at the beginning of September. He came at exactly the right time. Since the end of May, Abionic has been testing its allergy test system in the market. The first devices are in use at various doctor’s offices and pharmacies. There is major interest coming from pharmacists in particular. And for Abionic CEO Nicolas Durand, there is something else even more important: “Up to now, all devices have been working perfectly. Our customers have encountered no problems whatsoever.”

One could almost say this is a given. After all, the systems developed by the Lausanne-based company are nothing less than a revolution. They analyze drops of blood from patients using a ‘lab on chip’. The blood is methodically mixed with regents on a chip in minuscule compartments and channels, and the results are then immediately analyzed. The chips are attached to a CD-sized disc inserted into the Abionic reader in order to mix and analyze the blood. This device first maneuvers the chips in a certain way and evaluates the liquid at molecular biological level. Up to now, molecular biological analyses of this kind required the use of large, expensive and complicated devices that only specialized laboratories can afford. Abionic is bringing blood analysis technology to doctor’s offices and pharmacies for the first time. Not only is the Abionic system significantly cheaper, it is also faster and much easier to operate. At the same time, it offers the same level of precision as laboratory devices in terms of results. The main benefit for patients is that the device informs them of all intolerances within 20 minutes. The system can test up to 10 allergies at once and provides precise information about the severity of the allergies.

The road to regulatory approval has been long and challenging. The startup had to perform a series of clinical tests and develop an intelligent quality management system that could, for example, facilitate the traceability of individual chips. “Securing regulatory approval in May this year was a huge milestone for us,” explains Durand. “We are entering an exciting phase right now, because we are doing a lot of different things at the same time,” continues Durand. In addition to market testing in Switzerland, Durand is now ready to start serious negotiations with partners for the distribution and possibly also production of the system in other European countries. A subsidiary has already been established in the USA, where Abionic is aiming to secure approval from the FDA by 2016. Abionic is also building an automated pro duction line in Lausanne.

For the first time in the company’s history, Durand was able to secure a bank loan for the construction of the production line thanks to a guarantee from the Canton of Vaud and some tough negotiating. The loan is also symbolic of the fact that the company is now gradually emerging from its startup phase. “I think that before long we will be an SME rather than a startup in the normal sense of the word,” notes Durand. Despite this, another financing round is planned with investors in 2016. “Right now we are making sure that we are up to speed in all aspects of the business, so that we can channel investor funds directly into growth areas,” explains Durand.

There is ample opportunity for growth. Today’s global market for allergy tests is worth over one billion dollars. According to a report by market research company MarketsAndMarkets, this is set to double to more than 2.2 billion dollars by 2019. The market researchers estimate annual growth of 12 percent.As such, this is not the end of the road for Abionic by any means. The technology developed by the EPFL spin-off is suitable not only for allergies, but also for other blood tests. Preparations are already underway at Abionic to ramp up operations in this field. As Durand states, “we already have numerous other applications in the pipeline.”

A record winner

Record-winner of more than 20 awards, Abionic is broadly recognized for its scientific and management achievements. They won the Venture Kick final in 2010. The EPFL spin-off is also a venture leader and flew to Boston and New York in 2012 to better understand their potential on this market.

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