Fresh set of Good News from Life Science Companies in the Turku Region
- ArcDia Ltd and Abacus Diagnostica Ltd bring to market improved COVID-19 tests
- Radiometer Turku Ltd is investing in a production line and hiring new personnel
- Medicortex Ltd has received funding from Business Finland
HealthTurku, Finland’s leading expertise centre for pharma, diagnostics and health technology, continues to grow strongly. There has been many good news from the life science companies in the Turku region, despite the bleak impact corona has on the world economy.
One of these companies is the medical device manufacturer ArcDia International Ltd, whose mariPOC® COVID-19 tests are already widely used globally in decentralized and laboratory testing, as well as in occupational surveillance. ArcDia reported, that it has launched a range of exceptionally sensitive point-of-care rapid tests for COVID-19. The new 2nd generation COVID-19 tests bring a ten-fold improvement to the limit of detection. Contagiousness is detected in 20 minutes. The redesigned test is designed to identify coronavirus variants and is market-leading in terms of performance.
Abacus Diagnostica, a Turku-based company focusing on rapid diagnostics of infectious diseases, has also been active on the Corona front. The company, which last year launched both a single COVID-19 test and a combined test for viruses that cause respiratory infections to distinguish between influenza A and B viruses, coronavirus, and RS virus, has now developed a rapid PCR test for research that can quickly identify genetic modifications specific to the British variant and the South African variant virus.
Radiometer Turku Ltd, which manufactures healthcare tests, is investing seven million euros in the new production line and hiring more than 30 new employees, Yle reports. Radiometer Turku employs a total of about 250 people and the number of personnel has grown by about 20 percent annually.
– Radiometer Turku Ltd develops and manufactures a wide range of diagnostic products for our global customers for acute care needs. When a patient has symptoms such as chest pain, fever, or shortness of breath, our products can be used to quickly assess whether it is a condition requiring urgent treatment, such as a heart attack, heart failure, sepsis, or pulmonary embolism. The seamless relationship between people and technology is crucial, says Michael Reinholt Andersen, CEO of Radiometer’s Turku unit.
Medicortex receives funding from Business Finland
Medicortex Finland Oy, a biotechnology company from Turku focusing on brain injury diagnostics and drug development, received funding from the Finnish government innovation funding branch Business Finland. The funds are meant to expedite the development of a medical diagnostic test to improve detection of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and concussion. The market potential for a new diagnostic tool is substantial with more than 60 million people globally who suffer head injuries each year. Winning this highly competitive funding is a valuable recognition of the company’s efforts and affirms the urgent need to be able to diagnose TBI and concussions rapidly and reliably.
Business Finland has granted funding also for the PRIVASA project led by the University of Turku, which develops artificial intelligence methods for the safe utilization of sensitive data in the health sector. The aim of the project is to accelerate the product development of companies operating in international markets by producing anonymous, individual-level health data for the needs of companies’ development and innovation activities.
The PRIVASA project consortium includes three research institutes: University of Turku, Turku University of Applied Sciences and VTT. The corporate partners include Bayer, BCB Medical, BC Platforms, Fujitsu Finland, MVision, PerkinElmer, Polar Electro and Yield Systems, as well as Auria, Turku Science Park, THL and Findata.