Novus Diagnostics is awarded mentorship at Roche Diagnostics and Enterprise Ireland Incubator Programme Event 2022

Four Irish start-ups and university spin-offs showcase innovations in disruptive diagnostic technologies

Novus Diagnostics has been awarded a 12-week mentorship with Roche Diagnostics, as part of the Roche Diagnostics and Enterprise Ireland Incubator Programme 2022.

The aim of the programme is to support Irish-owned and headquartered start-ups, SMEs and university spin-outs that are creating disruptive diagnostic technologies. Launched in April, the 2022 programme sought applications from organisations that are developing healthcare solutions that will impact patient care in the field of diagnostics.

At a pitch event, which took place at Enterprise Ireland Head Office in Dublin, Novus Diagnostics was selected as the recipient of a bespoke mentorship programme with Roche Diagnostics. As a multinational and leader in the field of diagnostics, Roche will provide Novus Diagnostics with access to experts across its organisation and across geographies. The mentorship programme will include support and advice on business model development, including health economics and how to accelerate as a start-up, access to regulatory experts, and advice from sales and marketing teams on how to commercialise innovations.

Four Irish start-ups pitched in this year’s Incubator Programme, showcasing a range of solutions and innovations, all of which are aimed at improving patient outcomes.

Commenting at the event, Finbarr Kenny, Director of Ireland at Roche Diagnostics said, “Supporting local Irish enterprises is a key element of our ongoing commitment to delivering best-in-class diagnostics for the patients of Ireland. We were delighted to meet with Irish start-ups who share our passion for improving patient care through diagnostics innovation and disruptive technologies, and Roche Diagnostics is proud to work with Enterprise Ireland in developing this platform for collaboration. Based on the candidates we have seen, we can all be excited and confident that the evolving future of diagnostics development is assured, unlocking Ireland’s potential to be a global leader in healthcare innovation.”

Alan Hobbs, High Potential Start-Up Manager for Life Sciences with Enterprise Ireland, said, “Programmes such as the Roche Diagnostics and Enterprise Ireland Incubator Programme have huge value, as they help start-ups to gain the support and knowledge they need to commercialise their solutions and scale globally. We are grateful to Roche Diagnostics for their ongoing commitment to the Irish start-up ecosystem, working together with us at Enterprise Ireland to support the Irish innovators that will help to shape the future of healthcare globally through the development of world-class diagnostic solutions.”

The start-ups pitching at the event included:

• Atturos: Atturos is a fast-growing clinical diagnostics company developing the next generation of molecular diagnostic tests which support clinicians in making the best treatment decisions for patients. Based on excellent science, with patient wellbeing at its core, Atturos is developing cutting-edge diagnostic tests based on advanced targeted proteomics methods and machine learning analytics. The pipeline currently includes tests for inflammatory arthritis, prostate cancer and diabetic kidney disease. Atturos tests provide easy to interpret scores to help clinicians and patients to make the best decisions they can providing for improved patient outcomes and treatment plans.
• EpiCapture: EpiCapture is a UCD spin-out developing liquid biopsy tests for early cancer detection. The team is led by Dr Antoinette Perry, whose research passion is translational cancer epigenetics. The initial focus is on prostate and ovarian cancers.
• identifyHer: identifyHer is a digital health company using wearable enabled AI to guide the diagnosis and management of perimenopause, bridging the gap between symptomatic women needing treatment and the difficulty for clinicians diagnosing perimenopause. The wearable sensor and AI platform is a first-of-its-kind menopausal symptom detector that will provide unique objective data on the frequency and severity of symptoms, acting as a companion diagnostic for clinicians. This will enable them to diagnose perimenopause earlier, personalise the management of symptoms and track treatment efficiency; reducing the number of years women suffer with symptoms and allowing them to live healthier and more productive lives.
• Novus Diagnostics: Novus Diagnostics is a Dublin based company developing a revolutionary new clinical diagnostics technology. The company’s first product is a rapid bedside test for Sepsis. Sepsis kills more than 11 million people around the world every year. While many of these lives could be saved through earlier intervention with effective antibiotics, current tests take hours or days to deliver results. Novus Diagnostics’product, SepTec, will bring diagnostic testing right to the patient’s bedside and deliver definitive results within minutes. This means the physician can immediately prescribe a more targeted treatment regime for each individual patient – leading to better patient outcomes, and saving lives.

About Roche Diagnostics

Roche Diagnostics is a multinational company that develops and manufactures in vitro diagnostics solutions to help support clinical decision-making and transform the lives of patients. We are defined by the power of our scientific and technological capabilities around the world. Our global network of scientific excellence allows us to introduce and integrate breakthroughs in diagnostic science from across the world into healthcare systems with speed, accuracy and precision. Our portfolio of diagnostic solutions is vast and we are continually innovating. We have over 120 years of history and a track record of innovation and excellence around the world and within the UK and Ireland.