Expedeon teams up with Sona Nanotech

HALIFAX, Canada, HEIDELBERG, Germany and CAMBRIDGE, UK—Expedeon AG and Sona Nanotech Inc. announced today that the companies have entered into a commercial agreement to address limitations in development of complex, multiplex point-of-care (POC) lateral flow assay (LFA) diagnostic tests.

Under the terms of the agreement, Expedeon will provide gold nanoparticle, bioconjugation technologies and expertise, and Sona will offer its lateral flow assay development services. The collaboration will enable the rapid development of more complex/multiplex immunoassays into LFAs, from proof of principle through scale-up and transfer to manufacturing.

The lateral flow assay market is expected to reach USD $8.7 billion by 2023 from an estimated USD $6 billion in 2018 at a CAGR of 7.7%, according to a recent market research report. The lateral flow assay market comprises several stakeholders such as raw material suppliers, processors, end-product manufacturers, distributors and regulatory organizations in the supply chain. The demand side of this market is characterized by hospitals and clinics, diagnostic laboratories, home care, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and biotechnology companies, and the environmental testing industry. A significant portion of this market is comprised of POC diagnostics.

“The adoption of point-of-care diagnostics is increasing globally, due to factors such as high prevalence of infectious diseases in developing countries, increasing incidence of target diseases, and rising preference for home healthcare,” said Dr. Heikki Lanckriet, CEO, Expedeon AG. “Despite the growing market, there are several bottlenecks in the development of point of care assays. We are looking forward to working with Sona to overcome these challenges, without compromising on quality or reproducibility.”

POC diagnostics or near-patient testing are medical diagnostic tests that allow physicians and medical staff to correctly attain real-time, lab-quality diagnostic results within minutes rather than hours. LFAs are among the most widely used POC diagnostic tests due to their rapidity, ease of use, long term storage and application in resource-limiting settings.

Multiplex lateral flow assays provide an ideal solution to the need for simple, rapid, and accurate POC tests for applications such as infectious disease or communicable illness diagnostics. Challenges in both development and transfer to manufacturing have previously limited the number of multiplex lateral flow assays brought to the market. The new collaboration between Expedeon and Sona will address these limitations, reportedly enabling simultaneous detection of multiple analytes with distinct visual differences between the test lines in a fully scalable, transferable and cost-effective way.

“Signing this agreement with Expedeon further strengthens the productive partnership between our organizations and our commitment to delivering value to our combined global customer base,” added Darren Rowles, president and CEO, Sona Nanotech.

Expedeon (booth #4259) and Sona Nanotech (booth #4257) are currently exhibiting and promoting their collaboration at the 71st AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo, running August 4th - 8th, at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.