COmfortable and REliable Intestinal Cancer SCREENing

Host Organisation:	AJM Med-I-Caps LTD
Partner Organisation(s):	PA1: University of Cyprus
Project Budget:	588.200,00 €
IDEK Funding:	499.970,00 €

More than 800,000 people die every year because of late diagnosis of colon cancer. The proposed project aims to develop a revolutionary electronic pill which, in combination with a proprietary precancer/cancer tracer, will enable reliable and easy screening for polyps (precancerous lesions) and cancers, both for the small and large intestine. This much needed product will enable the Cypriot startup AJM MediCaps Ltd to grow rapidly, order to penetrate a global market.
During the two years of this project, the team will refine the combination-product (CORE-screen) of a tracer and its pill sensor in murine and porcine precancer models, thus taking an existing lab demonstrator (TRL 6) to the next level (TRL 7). This will significantly increase AJM Medicaps Ltd. investment readiness level and enable it to acquire sufficient funds to proceed to the production and scale up phase, as well as tackling important regulatory milestones, to enable an international presence within 5 years.
The social implications of an easily scalable, comfortable and accurate alternative to colonoscopy for mass intestinal health screening are huge. Many lives will be saved, as well as reducing the burden on national health service providers throughout Europe’s aging population. Furthermore, a rapidly growing AJM Medicaps ltd, lead to foreign direct investment and a significant product revenue stream for Cyprus allowing for growth and provision of jobs.
Therefore, the development of an innovative, cutting edge product, with an enormous potential to sell globally, since the business is highly scalable, is in-line with the core objectives of the specific call, but also with the priority area of Health of the Cypriot Smart Specialization Strategy.