Metafora Biosystems, a company that specialises in developing diagnostic tests to detect abnormal energetic cells, has been awarded a grant of €1-million from Bpifrance as part of the French government's Innovation Challenge initiative.
The grant will help fund the launch of the CellMETA-analyzer, a totally automated platform that can detect all types of cancer cells and has a large potential for large-scale manufacture. The platform combines biological science and mathematical modelling and could become a large part of the fight against cancer. Metafora's initial plans are to develop the platform for pancreatic and liver cancers, followed by colon cancer. At present there are no early diagnostic tests for these cancer types.
Metafora is just one of the 65 awardees selected in the second round of the publicly-funded Innovation Challenge. The Challenge is part of the French government's investment plan and is operated by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), FranceAgriMer and Bpifrance. It provides support to innovative projects by BMEs and start-ups by aiding in the acceleration of growth. The Challenge selects innovation projects that show potential to be particularly beneficial to the French economy. It offers the co-financing of selected projects in research, development and innovation with total costs of between €600,000 and €5-million. Winners will receive the awards at a ceremony this summer.
“We are delighted to be one of the eight health sector winners of the Innovation Challenge and would like to express our heartfelt thanks to both the General Secretariat for Investment and Bpifrance for the trust they have placed in us. We are also grateful to the Medicen Paris Region competitiveness cluster for its support and expertise during this project,” said Vincent Petit, CEO of Metafora. “We are very proud to have been selected. Our company is the only industrial player in the world that is able to characterise the nutritional needs of cells for fuelling their energetic metabolism, which is deregulated in a number of diseases, including cancer. Our unique platform enabling individual detection and identification of cellular energetics for the effective early-stage diagnosis of diseases is essential in the fight against cancer.”
Clémentine Lamarre, health sector manager at Bpifrance adds: "We are delighted to support Metafora even further. This support will validate and strengthen the robustness of its unique and innovative platform and demonstrate its interest in the field of oncology diagnostics."
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