Canadian biotechnology startup Afynia laboratoriesSpin-out from McMaster University in Ontario, collected $ 5 million seed funds for commercialization of a blood test for endometriosis-medical condition, which might affect people with a uterus, causing problems resembling chronic pelvic pain and fertility problems.
Endometriosis affects almost 200 million people around the world. Obtaining a diagnosis stays difficult, and some women report that it could take years – even up to a decade – travel of doctors and invasive tests before obtaining confirmation. This, in turn, delays the treatment that may alleviate their pain or increase their probabilities of getting pregnant. Acceleration of the diagnosis, so treatment can occur faster, is a mission of Afininia.
Co -founder Dr. Lauren Foster (in the photo above on the left) explains that endometriosis is not one medical problem, but slightly a syndrome or a series of assorted disorders that will have similar symptoms. Before starting, Foster was a professor at McMaster for over two a long time after the scientist’s early profession.
The startup approach to detection of endometriosis reacts to this complexity, looking at a variety of biomarkers. In particular, his technology is based on the patient’s blood test in terms of the presence of micro -molecules – small molecules that play a role in turning on or off genes.
MicroS panel
The micro -Afininia test, which Endomir calls, works, looking for a panel of those particles using an algorithm to compare the level of expression, which circulates in the blood of a patient with people with surgically confirmed endometriosis to obtain a diagnosis.
“We recognized that we had to go beyond one biomarker and look at the panel – a panel that would have more consistency and reliability to receive endometriosis from various types and at different stages of the disease,” said Foster TechCrunch.
“Bicomarkers, which we look at the various aspects of the disease. Therefore, they can be involved in the growth of new blood vessels, they are involved in inflammation, are involved in a new nerve growth factor or a new growth of peripheral nerves associated with pain – and thus focus on these different parts of the disease, they work better together in connection than anyone themselves . “
(*5*) – adds Foster.
He claims that a micro-based test is a higher way to do this than other approaches-as resembling an attempt to detect endometriosis by testing protein-traces are more stable.
The MicroRNA approach also allowed to find “a combination of markers that seem to work well” to collect endometriosis, to Foster and support of understanding “what are disturbing or disturbing factors.”
“Some of our competitors – it looks like they underestimate it,” he suggests.
Apart from the academic environment
While Afynia (previously called AIMA) was founded in November 2021, Foster claims that Endomir testing technology is based on a long extent of her research profession focusing on ovarian regulation and endometriosis – which from around 2015 also included looking at microrate .
Foster was previously involved in the effort of patenting the protein biomarker to licensing the pharmaceutical company in Europe. However, he says that the means of coping with a business subject, which had no basis for academic science, was frustrating. Therefore, together with a PhD student, and now a co -founder, Dr. Jocelyn Wessels (also in the photo above the image of the function), they decided to take the IP address, which they developed to microornas and create their very own company for commercialization and non -invasive (in the sense of no requirement for surgical diagnosis) Endometriosis test on the market.
The use of micro -disease for testing the disease is not recent, nor is the micro -panels to diagnose – and others try this kind of approach to collecting endometriosis – but Afynia thinks he has an advantage because it attacks the problem from the problem from the base of the academic discovery . (Instead of a approach that is typical with many startups that try to develop a solution to break a helpful business problem that they identified).
“I think that we are really the first group that found it as part of the academic laboratory, recognized its utility and we decided to introduce it to the market,” says the medical director of the startup, Dr. Jake Prigoff.
“It was a research career, work on it and slowly heading towards MicroRno,” adds Foster, describing “AH-HA moment”, which encouraged her to leave the academic community to the business kingdom. He says that the penny fell after they managed to show that blinded micro -tests on patients’ blood samples had a “very high level of compliance” with what the surgeons collected invasive tests.
“[Those results told us] We have something here that is interesting and worth implementing, “he continues. “And then of course there was a lot more work to continue to study, improve, improve the test reliability, sensitivity.”
The startup refuses to disclose all Endomir’s accuracy indicators compared to the surgical diagnosis, when we ask – claiming that he wants to store its data in the package until the Canadian regulatory approval process for the test developed in the laboratory (LDT) ends through the Canadian process.
As a part of this process, it’ll display its algorithm through clinical validation in order to show clinical validity in the intended use – focusing on the diagnosis of patients with chronic pain or infertility of the pelvis, which are each so faster diagnosis can bring tangible advantages for patients.
Prigoff says that the team is convinced that he’ll give you the chance to launch a test in North America this yr – they hope that LDT will likely be approved in the next three months.
Canada could be the first test of the Afininia market implemented – potentially as soon as possible this summer – with launching in the USA at the starting of next yr, if every little thing goes to the set.
A greater result for patients?
“The average patient can wait from seven to eight years for diagnosis [of endometriosis]And some of them over a decade. And so, although we cannot accurately determine how much reduction we will be able to bring to these patients, we are convinced that we will be able to significantly reduce this timeline, “adds Prigoff.
It is crucial for the patient to collect blood to perform the Afininia test, is one of the limitations of scalability. However, he suggests that there is a positive aspect here in terms of patient’s trust – arguing that diagnostic efforts that focus elsewhere (and do not require needles), say, resembling using ultrasounds and image evaluation, and even testing traces of molecules in saliva, they will suffer a lack of trust among each patients and clinicians who are responsible for ordering tests.
“We think that we have the best combination of differentiating factors here to be a market leader,” he says. “The key is the patient’s trust and the balance between the level of invasiveness, if you want and accuracy. Patients trust blood test. And I think they are a bit skeptical of things such as saliva tests and, you know, imaging reports generated by AI. And I think there are clinicians too. “
Another “differentiating factor” that Prigoff is the cost suggesting: “We do it in a way that allows us to scale outside the place where I think that some of the price points of our competitors will have to land – based on the technology that they” again use. “
Next, because the startup continues to develop its micro -technology, Prigoff also claims that he hopes that the test can only work with a drop of blood (i.e. from the cock of the finger), as an alternative of requiring blood draw. Although he emphasizes that this is not yet possible.
While endometriosis is a place where Afynia puts all its energy for now, the startup wants to apply its approach to diagnosing health problems of other women – with the plan to launch the Mikrorna tests in the coming years. Although it stays tight, which can come because Prigoff claims that they need to submit patents before making public in additional tests.
Competitors chasing the promise of non -invasive tests for health problems are resembling California Nexten Janewhich explores using menstrual blood collected by tampons to test endometriosis and other health conditions; And Dotlab, one other American player who developed a blood -based endometriosis test.
Sweekly platforms, resembling Allara and research projects resembling Citizen endo Also, try to satisfy people suffering from endometriosis with support in dealing with their states or improving understanding of the disease.
Afininia seeds were led by Bio-RAD Laboratories, a manufacturer of laboratory sets, with the participation of Impact America Fund, SOSV, Capital Angel Network and Gaingels.
Before this financing round, Foster claims that the startup collected about $ 1.5 million of financing before destroying, and support for an earlier increase from McMaster University and some seed investors, including SOSV and Capital Angel Network, in addition to some investors of Angels from New York.