​BioMedomics, a medical diagnostics company in Research Triangle Park, won first place among 30 start-up companies competing in an innovation contest at an industry conference in Boston.

The company was voted most innovative by attendees of the Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference, an ongoing conference series that helps early stage life sciences companies meet investors, create relationships and get funding.

“We are honored to receive this recognition of our expert team and the vast potential of our products,” said Frank Wang, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of BioMedomics.

BioMedomics presented its rapid point-of-care diagnostics line for the diagnosis of lethal and widespread hemoglobin disorders including sickle cell disease and alpha thalassemia. These tests are CE Mark-approved for sale in Europe and other countries around the world, but have not yet been approved for sale in the United States.

Company boosted by loans from NCBiotech

BioMedomics was founded in 2006 with the help of a $19,000 loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The company has subsequently received more than $3 million in follow-on funding from state and federal grants and private capital investment.

In March, BioMedomics was awarded a $250,000 Small Business Research Loan by the Biotechnology Center to support development of a new low-cost test for sickle cell disease.

“The company continues to develop valuable point-of-care technology in the detection and treatment of sickle cell disease for worldwide use,” said Vivian W. Doelling, Ph.D., senior director of business and technology development at NCBiotech.

Sickle cell disease is a group of genetic blood disorders passed down to children from their parents, particularly in African-American families. The life-threatening anemia is caused by defective genes for the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin found in red blood cells.

In the United States alone, over 100,000 patients suffer from sickle cell disease, and about half of them undergo frequent blood transfusions.

Current diagnostic tests for the disease require complex and expensive equipment at central laboratories. It takes several days to a week for clinicians to get test results.

The Biotechnology Center loan will help BioMedomics develop a low-cost, point-of-care test that could give clinicians quantitative results within minutes, improving treatment for patients.

Portable test kit approved in Kenya

This spring BioMedomics received approval from the Kenya Ministry of Health to sell Sickle SCAN, its portable test system for sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait.

The disease is a major public health concern in Kenya because most children born with the disease die before the age of 5. Children who do survive remain vulnerable to painful complications from severe anemia and sickle cell crisis. They also have an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular events and infections.

Kenyan children are not routinely screened for sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait because of the high cost and limited availability of the central laboratory techniques typically required. As a result, few Kenyans receive treatment for the disease or genetic counseling for those who are carriers of the trait.

Sickle SCAN will provide a cost-effective, quick and simple point-of-care test to diagnose both sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait without the need for any external equipment, power source or trained lab technicians. The device gives results in five minutes, using only one drop of whole blood from the patient.

In addition to its tests for hemoglobin disorders, BioMedomics is developing quantitative point-of-care diagnostics for testosterone deficiency, vitamin D deficiency and troponin, a cardiac protein biomarker for heart attack.

(C) NC Biotechnology Center