France Bleu Isère – You have developed a rapid screening device. What exactly does it consist of?
Paul Kauffmann, President of MagIA diagnostics– Our device consists of a small portable reader that fits in a backpack, and a consumable (cartridges) in which we will put a drop of blood and which will be inserted into the reader. The result of the analysis is obtained in 15 to 20 minutes. The objective today for MagIA is to be able to perform several analyzes from the same drop of blood taken at the fingertip. We are now developing a first panel on HIV and viral hepatitis, which are infections that affect vulnerable populations who often do not have access to analysis laboratories or hospitals, and who are often unaware of their infection.
How have you been impacted by the Covid crisis? She also proved this crisis that we could do tests outside of laboratories…
Exactly: today’s Covid crisis demonstrates something that is what we have always believed in since the creation of MagIA, which is that accessibility to a screening test is crucial if we want to reach populations who are ignore. So this is a usage practice that is changing excessively quickly due to the health crisis. At the same time, the health crisis is coming with its share of disadvantages, for example the component crisis. But overall it is accelerating the development of the health and screening system throughout Europe and throughout the world.
How many people do you employ and when can you move to the industrial phase?
Our premises are in Échirolles. We are 18 people with a multidisciplinary team: (employees) who will take care of the reader part, the cartridge production part, the development part, the biological tests, or even the regulatory affairs and the support services. At the end of 2022, we will have a production of industrial cartridges running, and a version of our pre-industrial reader on which we will do our clinical validations. This will allow CE marking to be obtained by 2024; and therefore from there we will enter the marketing and recurring production phase.