Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SCOPIO (High-resolution, all-digital microscope that applies computational methods to bring revolutionary benefits of digital microscopy to small and medium sized laboratories)
Reporting period: 2018-05-01 to 2018-08-31
Speeding up, decentralizing and improving diagnostics is a major priority for national health systems in Europe as we face an aging population and emergent infections in our changing society. Microscope slide-based diagnosis (the standard for malaria, leukemia, pneumonia and many others) is currently analog, time-consuming and prone to human error. There is a recurring need (25% of the cases) of a second opinion, in which cases the slides must be shipped to dedicated centers. Digitization of slides addresses these problems by eliminating the need for physical shipment of glass slides, decentralizing, and speeding up the process from weeks to minutes. Digitization by Whole Slide Imaging technology is being promoted nationwide in many countries, but there exist no low-cost, high-magnification digital microscopes. This means digital pathology is not accessible to low-budget labs and hospitals, making diagnostics and treatment decisions take longer, disadvantaging, therefore, the patients. SCOPIO Labs, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, fulfils this need by making a low-cost digital microscope, thanks to our novel and innovative software that creates high resolution images with cost-effective optical components.
To date, SCOPIO has produced a beta version of their digital microscope. During the study period, we have refined the prototype a and tested it in real environments, begun to establish links to distribution and production partners, refined our business plan and identified risks and competitors. Furthermore, SCOPIO is poised to distribute their beta device for its final round of testing, standing them at TRL7.
When released within the European market, SCOPIO's technology stands ready to save health systems annually up to €1 billion (in shipping costs and improvements in pathology workflow), speed up and improve treatment plans and eliminate 40 metric tons of CO2 emissions (due to slide shipment). SCOPIO intended target markets at full commercialization is the EU, US and Canada. We project a profit of €51 million within the first five years of operation. Our technology benefits pathologists (as end users), enables national digital pathology networks, saves health systems money and ultimately positively impact patients by speeding up their diagnosis - a result that can both save lives and potentially combat epidemics.