Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Venture Funds Investee

16th May 2014

Radisens secures second €1M European Space Agency Contract

Radisens Diagnostics Ltd (“Radisens”), a Bank of Ireland MedTech Accelerator Fund Portfolio Company, has been awarded a second €1m contract by the European Space Agency to develop an innovative blood testing device for use by astronauts on board the International Space Station and on various human spaceflight missions.

Congratulating the company, Sean Sherlock, TD, Minister for Research and Innovation and the Minister with policy responsibility for space matters said: “Radisens is another excellent example of how innovative Irish companies are leveraging the Irish Government’s investment in the European Space Agency. Space is proving to be a very fertile ground for Irish companies in developing innovative technologies and proving the technologies performance in extreme environments. The Radisens example also clearly shows how technologies developed for space can have a major societal impact here on Earth in improving human healthcare. We want to see indigenous companies like Radisens scale up and grow to create jobs here in Ireland, and winning internationally benchmarked contracts like this will help them achieve this”.

The European Space Agency has contracted Radisens to extend the blood testing menu on their point-of-care device which is currently in development at their facility at the Rubicon Centre, Cork. This forerunner device could be used on board the International Space Station and on various human spaceflight missions where it is essential to get high-performance, laboratory grade results for myriad health conditions, without fear of biological contamination.

Jerry O’Brien, CEO, Radisens commented: “We are delighted to extend our successful partnership with ESA. The operational needs on board the International Space Station, which requires leading-edge performance, ease-of-use and biological containment provide Radisens with a unique test-bed for our game-changing point-of-care platform”.

ESA’s Technical Officer, Francois Gaubert, added: “Performing rapid analysis of astronauts’ blood samples and monitoring their physiological parameters onboard the ISS without having to download the samples from the ISS to the ground laboratories is a feature with utmost interest that the RADISENS POC proposes to develop”.

Tony McDonald, Enterprise Ireland pointed to Radisens as one of a growing number of Irish companies which are looking to ESA to support their product and market development strategies. The partnership with ESA is proving to be highly beneficial to Irish companies in supporting technology development, product reliability and performance and in providing a globally recognised reference customer.

The Company who is developing an integrated point-of-care diagnostic device targeting chronic disease management has previously received investment from Kernel Capital through the Bank of Ireland MedTech Accelerator Fund, Enterprise Ireland and private BES investment sourced by the Company. Radisens’ technology will enable a general physician (GP) to take a finger-prick of blood and test patients for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and thyroid conditions in their surgery with instant results.

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