Spanish startup Mecwins is developing in vitro diagnostic testing lab technology that detects concentrations in femtograms per milliliter — 1,000 times more sensitive than widely available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, the company said Sept. 24.
Mecwins said the technology will be most suitable for hospital labs because it will enable hundreds of samples to be tested each day. However, the company has inked an agreement with San Diego-based healthcare diagnostics firm Quidel to enable use in doctor's offices and other decentralized settings.
The technology, called Avac, can potentially detect multiple protein, RNA and DNA biomarkers on a single platform at high levels of sensitivity, Virginia Cebrián, PhD, Mecwin's head of bioscience, told diagnostic tech news outlet 360Dx.
Ms. Cebrián said the firm has tested biomarkers including troponin I, a biomarker of myocardial infarction; prostate-specific antigens to detect prostate cancer recurrence after a prostatectomy; p24 to detect HIV; and cytokines to detect inflammation.