Radisens secures €4.5m Commission investment

A Cork-based medical diagnostics company has added to its impressive array of endorsements which includes contracts with the European Space Agency by landing a €4.5m investment from the European Commission.

Radisens Diagnostics, based at CIT’s Rubicon Centre, landed the grant from the commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation initiative to help develop a blood testing device that will provide instant diagnosis for chronic diseases.

Radisens will use the funds to integrate diabetes, cardiovascular and kidney function panels on to its Gemini near-patient platform, giving instant results from a fraction of a drop of blood — a development that chief executive Jerry O’Brien says will have a profound impact on patients’ lives.

“We are delighted with this significant endorsement from the EC, in support of our vision of instant testing of any high burden chronic disease anywhere.

Integrating diabetes, cardiovascular and kidney function panels onto Gemini will impact people’s daily lives,” said Mr O’Brien.

With more than 225,000 people living with diabetes in Ireland and close to 70 million Europeans projected to have either type one or type two diabetes by 2035, the technology has the potential make a significant contribution to the diagnostic process in the coming years.

If successful the disruptive technology would reduce the need for blood samples to be analysed at central labs and move the process to pharmacies and doctors’ clinics, dramatically reducing the time needed to diagnose a patient.

Patients’ fear of needles is also bypassed by the device’s need for just a drop of blood.