It was announced at the 2014 BIO International Convention that the BioMaryland Center (www.bio.maryland.gov) has joined with Medicen Paris Region (www.medicen.org) to co-fund an international project to support commercialization and collaboration among companies.
Opticul Diagnostics of Rockville Maryland (www.opticuldiagnostics.com), and Diafir of Rennes (www.diafir.com) , France have been selected as the first two participants in the partnership to promote collaboration on products to improve and speed diagnoses when caring for patients.
Opticul is involved in bacterial detection without the use of reagents to produce chemical reactions. Diafir produces a complementary product that eliminates the need to do a culture of the organism prior to detection. Their diagnostic solutions are based on infrared sensors to produce a more rapid minimally invasive approach to detect infections, track metabolic diseases, and identify tumors.
Opticul applied to the BioMaryland Center for up to $200,000 in matching funds while the Diafir applied to Bpifrance for up to $3 million Euros in matching funds. Bpifrance is able to provide a continuum of financing from short term credits to equity capital.
This is the first jointly funded international project undertaken by the BioMaryland Center which is part of the Department of Business and Economic Development of Maryland. Maryland has the fourth largest biopharma concentration in the U.S and the Medicen Paris Region representing one of Europe’s largest clusters of life science and healthcare companies acts as a gateway to European biotechnology markets.
“This funding is a great opportunity for Diafir to expand technologically and to penetrate the medical point-of-care with a powerful bacterial identification device. Teaming with Opticul Diagnostics will result in faster development and a superior technology,” said Hugues Tariel. President and CEO of Diafir.