Sense Biodetection has announced a total of £12.3m funding in order to develop its portfolio of instrument-free, point-of-care molecular diagnostic tests.
The “pioneering” new class of diagnostic product respresents the “ultimate flexible test format”, as the tests could be deployed in any setting and by a wide range of potential users.
As a result, the company says that it could be “transformational” for the diagnostic industry, delivering for the first time, true point-of-care testing in a market-successful, single-use product format, allowing diagnostic tests to be readily adopted by new users and scaled to meet demand.
Sense raised £10.5m of the funding as a Series A investment co-led by Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) and Earlybird, and also secured a grant of £1.8m from Innovate UK, completing the full amount.
The molecular diagnostics company is “delighted” to secure the funding, and says that “With the support of an exceptional new investment syndicate, Sense is positioned to become first-in-class and best-in-class in the exciting field of instrument-free molecular diagnostics and to realise our vision to transform healthcare through decentralisation.”
The company plans to invest the new funds in the development and manufacture of a range of tests utilising its novel and proprietary rapid molecular amplification technology, targeting in the first instance infectious disease applications such as flu.
