Abionic starts the commercialization of its revolutionary diagnostic platfrom

27.05.2015 10:00, Lara Rossi

On May 22, 2015, the ambassador of Swiss nano-, bio- and medical- technology know-how Abionic announced the launch of its allergy test on the market as well as the incorporation of its US subsidiary in Boston.

Switzerland's 3rd best startup Abionic is the first company in the world to sell a quantitative system for rapid allergy tests. After raising CHF 3.8 million in 2014 to further develop its catalog of allergy-specific reagents, the EPFL spin-off, 2010 Venture Kick winner and venture leader USA, just launched its first product on the market, called the abioSCOPE. The system developed by Abionic consists of a round disk the size of a CD that holds up to eight small, transparent capsules and a reading device into which the disk is inserted. The capsules contain nano-chambers, where specific proteins present in drops of blood from the patient are quantified within minutes. The reading unit is equipped with a touch screen that is used to operate the device and which shows the results. In addition, an iPad app allows the doctor to do other tasks, such as quickly print out a report.  

"We succeeded in bringing a new technology to a real certified product on the market"

“Starting commercialization is one of the most important step for a start-up company: It means that we succeeded in bringing a new technology to a real certified product on the market. We are definitively entering an exciting phase!” The first sales have been realized in Switzerland. Abionic plans to start European sales at the next EAACI Congress (European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology) which will take place in June. In addition to the launch the company announced the incorporation of its US subsidiary in Boston, MA, that will support its internationalization strategy.

A great success for Sitzerland's 3rd best startup

For the second consecutive year in 2014, Abionic was elected 3rd best Swiss startup in the TOP100 ranking. Its co-founders, Nicolas Durand and Iwan Märki, met at EPFL during their PhD studies and benefited from the support of Venture Kick since the company’s early days: «Venture Kick helped us to gain a global vision of our activities and not loose ourselves into details. I would recommend the program to anyone who is interested to enter the Swiss startups ecosystem”, concludes Durand.

Abionic was also part of the Swiss national startup team in 2010, "one of the best moments in my entrepreneurial career", said Nicolas Durand in our interview of 2014 (in French).