June 2022
Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion. It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth. A new element in Horizon Europe is European Innovation Council which supports innovations with potential breakthroughs and disruptive nature with scale-up potential that may be too risky for private investors. This is 70% of the budget earmarked for SMEs.
In June 2022, BioAnalyt submitted a proposal to the EIC Accelerator for our iCheck Anemia testing device, joining 986 other proposals from over 21 countries. All applications were evaluated by an international panel of independent experts, using criteria such as breakthrough nature, the scale-up potential of the project, and quality of the team. Only 7.6% were selected for funding. BioAnalyt’s proposal succeeded in receiving a high evaluation score, as well as the prestigious Seal of Excellence.
iCheck Anemia, is an innovative, point-of-care diagnostics device for screening iron deficiency with and without anemia. Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) affects 1/8 people globally. Iron deficiency (ID) is the main cause of anemia, affecting 30% of women and 40% of pregnants. Consequences are severe: double risk of maternal and perinatal mortality, 6.7x longer hospital stays and impaired children’s cognitive development affecting 270M children globally. 90% of people with ID go under surgery with no treatment: they have 2.9x higher risk of mortality and 22% longer hospital stays due to complications. In the EU, the economic burden associated with ID and IDA misdiagnosis in women accounts for over €3.9B. During surgery, patients with ID and IDA lead to an extra €15Bn in direct healthcare costs and thousands of deaths. Worldwide, ID amounts 28.5M DALYs and IDA 50.3M DALYs and €45B in GDP losses. Despite the existence of effective treatment, ID and IDA are underdiagnosed and undertreated. THE LACK OF EARLY ID DIAGNOSIS causes IDA, worsening disease symptoms, increasing health risks, making treatment more complex and increasing the economic burden.
