The Start-up OCEAN Dx, specialised in the in vitro diagnostic of infectious diseases (Bordeaux, France), won the i-Nov 2020 contest organized by the French General Secretary for Investment. The 400 000 € prize will help OCEAN Dx to automate its ultra-fast diagnostic test for sepsis and develop similar ultra-fast test for meningitis, pneumoniae and Lyme disease.
BIOTECHNOLOGY AS A SAFEGUARD FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
OCEAN Dx is a start-up company founded in 2019 by researchers from the field of biotechnology. Its founders Franck Tarendeau and Cyril Dian are in vitro diagnostic, bioproduction, and biochemistry experts. OCEAN Dx aims at developing innovative tools for the diagnosis of severe infectious diseases. The i-Nov award underlines the recognition of OCEAN Dx as a future French leader of in vitro diagnostic. Its cutting-edge technologies protected by international patents will revolutionize the diagnostic of infectious diseases and allow OCEAN Dx to tackle the global market.
“Thanks to i-Nov 2020 prize we will adapt our ultra-fast sepsis test to the robotic equipment already available in hospitals” says Franck Tarendeau CEO and co-founder of OCEAN Dx.
OCEAN DX TARGETS NEW INFECTIOUS DISEASES
By harvesting all the potential of its technology developed for sepsis, OCEAN Dx R&D teams are now developing innovative solutions for other diseases that are currently left without efficient means of diagnosis such as meningitis, pneumoniae and Lyme disease.
Meningitis affects 3 million people every year. The presence of microbe in the cerebrospinal fluid is responsible of Meningitidis and leads to patient death in a few hours only. Current fast diagnostic tests for Meningitidis don’t cover large number of microbe, especially bacteria. The global market for meningitis is estimated at 280 million $ per year.
Pneumoniae are caused by the presence of pathogens in the lung. 150 million persons are affected by this disease every year and 20 million require hospitalisation. As for sepsis, pneumoniae diagnostic would greatly benefit from an ultra-fast test able to orientate anti-bacterial treatment earlier on during the development of the disease. The global market for an ultra-fast test of pneumoniae is estimated at several billion $ per year.
Lyme disease affects 600 000 people every year and is transmitted by tick bites. Current diagnostic methods can take several weeks to be able to detect the presence of the pathogen after a tick bite and often comes too late to allow anti-bacterial treatment to prevent wide spread of the pathogen in the body. The global market for an early test of Lyme disease is estimated at 18 million $ per year.
