Braga startup wins ANI award

IPLEXMED, a Braga startup which is a spinoff from the University of Minho, has won the Born from Knowledge Awards (BfK) which are attributed each year by the Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) as part of the Altice International Innovation Awards.

eRDT IPLEXMED has developed a portable diagnostic test device that can detect respiratory illnesses in just 20 minutes at home instead of waiting seven days for a laboratory report.
There are approximately around 1 billion people who suffer from chronic respiratory illnesses, of which 380 million suffer from CPOD (Chronic Pulmonary Obstruction Disease), the third cause of death worldwide.
And it is estimated that CPOD costs European Union countries €48Bn a year while patients are more vulnerable to multi-resistant bacterias .
IPLEXMED, a start-up from Braga that has partnered with the University of Minho and INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory have come up with a non-invasive diagnostic platform that can be used for patients at home which can detect clinical respiratory illnesses.
The system works by using a cartridge from which samples of saliva can be collected, inserted in a module which in turn can be hooked up to a computer and access a data base and the Cloud.
It has highly sensitive sensors that can detect molecules giving results in 20 minutes and can be applied to any person reducing the time needed to get the results and a diagnosis from days to just minutes. It can also acts as an early illness detection device which can thereby save lives.
The IPLEXMED business model is to supply equipment to health centres but also directly to patients and can undertake different tests with just one sample.
“The pandemic has shown us how speed in medicine is increasingly more vital. Moreover, in a situation in which our national health system is already feeling the effects of the gradual ageing of the Portuguese population, with increased associated costs that puts its sustainability at risk, projects like IPLEXMED take on even greater importance”, says João Mendes Borga, director of ANI.