We invest in SDS Optic and technology for the diagnosis of breast cancer

A fourth medtech company has entered our portfolio. We invested PLN 3 million in SDS Optic, a Lublin-based company that develops a microprobe used in breast cancer diagnostics.
The company already has a microchip prototype, and is now preparing to start clinical trials. Thanks to our investment, SDS Optic will adapt its laboratory to the needs of further stages of work on technology, expand the scientific and business team with the highest class specialists, implement the business model and prepare to enter one of the stock markets.
At the moment, the company is designing a biological laboratory that is necessary for further research. Thanks to funds from INNOventure the laboratory will be equipped with the highest quality equipment, which will make the Polish achievements credible to foreign partners. The company plans to complete calibration and clinical trials in 2021. After this process, it will be able to make the device available to doctors and patients worldwide.

– The aim of the research is to design a microprobe that enables the diagnosis of breast cancer, with particular emphasis on the measurement of HER2 (epidermal growth factor receptor). It is a cancer marker indicating a particular type of breast cancer. Determining the level of this receptor is very important, because it allows to predict aggressiveness of the tumor, and additionally allows the introduction of effective targeted therapy, increasing the chances of healing. The use of our technology in the diagnosis of breast cancer will greatly reduce cancer mortality, even by as much as 30% – says dr hab. Magdalena Staniszewska, originator of the microprobe research and director of science at SDS Optic.
The current version of the device is able to detect the concentrations of markers in the medically required ranges. Thanks to the probe, there will no longer be any need to collect tissues, and a precise, numerical result of the examination will be received by the doctor and the patient in several minutes. Already, the SDS Optic diagnostic device attracts wide interest of oncologists and other specialties. The accuracy of the generated examination results enables future broad commercial and scientific applications.
SDS Optic is another company in our portfolio that has proven that it can make good use of the funds granted to it. In 2015, the company received funding from the National Centre for Research and Development as part of the Strategmed program, thanks to which it developed a prototype of its probe within two years. We got to know the company’s technological and business team and plans. We see great potential in both the device itself and the MedTech solutions market. This is the dominant trend not only in Poland. This is confirmed by the highest grant from the European Commission program under SME Instrument, which was launched in SDS Optic a few days ago. Thanks to such investments, Polish innovations can improve the quality of medical care all over the world.