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Imec has entered into a new licensing agreement with the chip-based diagnostic specialist Midiagnostics. The Imec and Johns Hopkins University spinoff has been selected by the Leuven-based research hub to commercialize its patented Covid-19 diagnosing technology, which captures aerosols and droplets from exhaled breath, rather than nasal swabs or blood, to screen for the virus. Once collected, the droplets can be tested for viral RNA through Midiagnostics’ ultrafast PCR technology.
“We’ve succeeded in transforming a promising concept and groundbreaking technology into a functional proof-of-concept that has passed both user tests and clinical studies. This is the first time that we’ve gone this far in the development of our chip technology towards commercialization,” says Imec CEO Luc Van den hove. “With this proof-of-concept, we can demonstrate – much closer to the market – the added value of our technology, while significantly reducing the time-to-market for our partners. The license agreement with Midiagnostics is an important milestone for Imec: our breakthrough technology will help curb the Covid-19 pandemic in the foreseeable future.”
