Entrepreneurship

Our product idea

The major problem we found in our journey was the difficulty in the design of an antigen that could differentiate DENV from ZIKV and CHIKV, as they have similar symptoms, impairing the medical evaluation. Another difficulty we found about those diseases is the short detection window, which restricts what exams would be done in each infection step. In addition, the diagnosis of these diseases can take days since they must be tested in specialized centers, creating a logistical problem for obtaining results quickly. Therefore, we developed DiagSyn Arboviruses, a point of care multi-diagnostic platform that allows the fast and accurate detection of arboviruses at any stage of the disease!
We designed it to be user-friendly in order to facilitate implementation in places with low laboratory support and easy interpretation of results. Another two important features are the possibility of collecting data for epidemiological use and it can be extended to other diseases according to demand!

Our platform would detect the virus in the early stages of infection through RNA detection, just like a PCR! In the late phase, we use the Ammit as a biomarker for detecting antibodies of infected patients.

SWOT Analysis

The commonly applied method to evaluate the market potential of a product is a SWOT analysis. SWOT means “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats” and helps us to evaluate the position of the product for potential market potential. The strength of Diagsyn Arboviruses is that we will have 2 types of diagnostic being performed for each of the arboviruses, resulting in a rapid, precise, and specific diagnosis, being cheaper than its competitors when we relate the number of tests with the value proposition delivered by it. When we think about the price of traditional diagnostic testing and Diagsyn arboviruses, it is possible to see a slight difference between them, not being easy to compete with the well-established methods. In addition to the prices being very close, the arboviruses tests have a low mortality rate in wealthy people, reducing the interest of the private sectors.

Diagsyn can be used very well in the public sector since the Public Health System spends millions of reais treating patients affected by them every year during the seasonal epidemic of arboviruses. Its implementation is a money-saving opportunity for the public sector, as it generates savings by providing an optimized and precise treatment for the correct disease. With this, the public funds would be well used, avoiding financial waste. The threat to innovative products is the optimization of its own and the FDA approval. As the industry does not encourage research on the arboviruses field, the optimization risk seen is low, and as it uses 2 methodologies already regulated, there is a low risk of not being approved.

The Market

The diagnostics market tends to grow with the aging of the population. This point is a growth driver for the coming years. As the years pass and the life perspective of global populations increases, companies focused on medical diagnostics will prosper since the older they are, the greater the chance of developing diseases. Many life sciences companies are investing in a differential diagnostic approach for the next few years, focusing on a less invasive, practical, and on-demand experience for testing. Diagsyn Arboviruses shows to be one of the pioneer platforms, aligning to the needs of the market for the next years to come.

Current Competing Methods

The main Arboviruses tests available on the market are the RT-PCR and the serological test like antigen detection. The results for RT-PCR are ready in between the first 2-3 days, and its price is $27.80, making access impossible for more than 75% of the population. The second gives the result in 1 hour but has low accuracy since it suffers from crossreaction between the arboviruses. As said before, DiagSyn Arboviruses combines the best of the two usual approaches in the diagnostics market, enhancing the potential of accurate diagnosis, supporting society with more access to health and quality of life, leaving us in a blue ocean of opportunity.

Economic Evaluation

The economic viability of Diagsyn Arboviruses is closely related to the technology involved in its realization and the device's operationalization. The technology used in the platform is being optimized, prioritizing precision, to reduce error margins, not requiring a second test for the real proof. In this way, when we combine method accuracy with a low cost of test machinery and operation, we find a revolution in traditional testing, delivering a test with one-sixth the value of traditional tests. This statement becomes relevant when we look at the current situation we live in Brazil, in which the minimum wage is $190 and the usual test costs at least $27.80. Its price is extremely high, making access impossible for more than 75% of the population. Thus, when analyzing Diagsyn Arboviruses, we observed that the cost of a test is in the range of $10.59. Therefore, the value of Diagsyn is only 18% of the traditional test price, supporting society with more access to health and quality of life.

Our Startup

Osiris Life Science is an academic R&D spin-off born at UFRJ and will be constituted by an interdisciplinary team with undergraduate students in the areas of Biotechnology, Biomedicine, and Bioprocess Engineering, dedicated to developing rapid and accurate solutions for the diagnosis of viral diseases worldwide.

Want to cooperate with us?

If we have caught your interest in our product idea please contact us via email. We are always happy to provide you with more information. Check out our pitch deck for more info, and follow us on social media to stay tuned for future projects!

Team:Rio UFRJ Brazil/Entrepreneurship