EU grants €2m for diabetes lab-on-chip startup

Dianax, an Italian medtech diagnostic start-up, has received a €2 million EU grant for its diabetes lab-on-chip.

Dianax is developing a portable diagnostic lab-on-chip for the prevention and monitoring of diabetes, designed to provide immediate and precise on-site measurements of glycated haemoglobin.  

The non-refundable grant from the European Commission will allow Dianax to accelerate the lab-on-chip development and move into industrial production phase sooner than initially planned.

"The EU funding is an important international recognition of the innovative value of our technology, and a significant booster for our roadmap to market entry" said Eugenio Iannone, Dianax Co-Founder and CEO.

"Dianax' lab-on-chip is a platform technology that can be potentially applied to any protein biomarkers in biological fluids, such as blood, urine or saliva."

Francesco Granata, Partner and Advisor at Dianax added: "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."

"The possible use of Dianax' portable diagnostic device range from patients' self or home monitoring, to prompt diagnostic tests at healthcare settings, such as chemist's stores, doctor's practices and hospitals, to emergency care at A&E departments or on the ambulance, potentially allowing prompt assessment of conditions or treatment effects.  

"As about half of commonly used blood tests consists in measuring proteins - confirmed Iannone - our technology has extensive potential in portable diagnostics".  

The Dianax device is based on a patented technology capable of performing extremely precise clinical analysis from a drop of blood in a simple and portable way.

The Dianax lab-on-chip reportedly yields results in a few minutes, and is, according to the firm, resistant to vibration, high/low temperatures, durable up to two years, and has the potential to be integrated with smartphones. Dianax says it is a low-cost product for the marketplace.

The group also believe it has potential applications beyond the medical field, such as in environmental and food control, in biological and medical research and in the veterinary sector.