Economics of Biosensors - Biosensors and Biosensor Kinetics - page 496

the company to develop a prototype and conduct nationwide trials on its ROTAS Ô portable
instrument. This portable instrument permits the rapid detection of toxicity in contaminated
land. Legislation aimed at cleaning up contaminated land and water resources has apparently
spurred the market in this area, which is estimated to be £440-450 million (equivalent to U.S.
$587-660 million). The ROTAS Ô instrument is meant for day-to-day testing at work sites
where workers may be exposed to toxic chemicals. OION explained that Cybersense pres-
ented a sound business proposition, which was based on innovative technology. Besides,
there is a growing market for their proposed instrumentation.
Innovative Biosensors, Inc. (IBI) is a company in College Park, Maryland that is developing
rapid, ultrasensitive tests to detect harmful pathogens. It has recently expanded its round table
financing to $6.25 million that includes additional investors, which are Chart Venture
Partners and CNF Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Clark Enterprises, Inc. (CEI). IBI reports
that it will use the cash infusion to develop human clinical assays and the commercialization
of biodefense testing products. Joe Hernandez, President, IBI explains that this additional
financing will hasten the availability of these rapid tests to markets that require quick and
accurate results with critical, time-sensitive decision making.
Information is required instantaneously in the biodefense and human clinical markets, and
IBI's CANARY Ô technology (developed at MIT) does have the capacity to provide this
information. One of the investors, CNF adds that they are always looking for emerging indus-
try leaders, and they are looking forward to supporting IBI as it helps guide and support the
future of pathogen detection. Besides, this is dual-purpose technology, in that it is applicable
to both the defense and the human clinical (commercial) sectors. Besides, the overall inten-
tion of IBI is to develop detection devices for broad applications in food testing, animal
health, human health care, drug development, and disease diagnosis.
Vargas (2008) reports that investors are collaborating with Cambridge Medial Innovation
(CMI) to help develop its handheld, low power device that can detect biological agents rap-
idly and accurately. Some of the organizations include the U.S. military, the UK government,
Unipath, and a leading technology consultancy company. Inverness Medical Innovations
(IMI) set up CMI and the U.S. Army Medial Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
(USAAMRIID) has given CMI $3 million to help develop its detection device. In return,
CMI will give USAAMRIID access to its breakthrough acoustic detection technologies
including proprietary Resonant Acoustic Profiling (RAP) system.
The USAAMRIID will use this technology to optimize and to develop assays for the detec-
tion of select biothreat-viruses, bacteria, and toxins. The U.S. government has given CMI
£826,000 (equivalent to U.S. $1.1 million) to help develop the hand held technology that
would assist medical doctors to make instant and accurate diagnosis of diseases such as
malaria and meningitis.