NEW YORK – Biocartis announced on Tuesday that it has received a €1.4 million ($1.7 million) grant from Brussels-based Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship to develop next-generation technology for the firm's molecular diagnostics platform Idylla.
The grant will be used to support the development of technology to allow for the offline customization of Idylla cartridges. Currently, the cartridges have the generic components for sample preparation and biomarker detection as well as biomarker-specific reagents. The next-generation cartridges would have only the generic components and would be made biomarker-specific with the addition of a ready-to-use mixture containing biomarker-specific reagents, Biocartis said in a statement.
The new technology would be compatible with the current cartridge manufacturing lines and installed base, the firm added. It is also expected to reduce Idylla assay development time and cost and "aims at decentralizing customized testing and personalized monitoring" for molecular surveillance, the company said. Biocartis expects to launch the first products using the new technology in 2022.
"The products that will be based on this new Idylla technology could potentially be used across the entire spectrum of molecular surveillance, including treatment response monitoring, molecular residual disease, and recurrence monitoring," Benoit Devogelaere, Biocartis' chief technology officer, said in a statement. "We also see applications in the area of infectious diseases, where it could allow to rapidly customize Idylla assays for the detection and discrimination of different viruses and viral strains, which may be important in the fight against pandemic threats."