Project description
An innovative assay that ensures the safety of donor blood
Donated blood samples undergo laboratory screening for different infectious pathogens to ensure their suitability for transfusion. However, testing relies on one test for each disease, which hampers the streamlining of blood bank processes and poses a significant workload burden. To address this challenge, the EU-funded Safe-Blood project has developed a multiplex serological assay that can detect 11 bloodborne disease pathogens simultaneously. The assay is expected to assist in the collection of safe donor blood and prevent the exclusion of precious samples especially in light of the worldwide rising demand for blood donations.
Objective
In the European Union alone, 15 million blood donations are collected annually, but supply of sufficient and safe donor blood remains a continuous struggle. Blood can save lives; however, it also carries the potential to transmit life-threatening infections. Potential donors are screened using a questionnaire aimed to identify risk carriers. As risk carriers do not equal disease carriers, thousands of potential donors are excluded to prevent one single case of a transfusion-transmitted disease. Subsequently, blood donations are screened for infectious diseases in the laboratory with one test for each disease.
WAMA Diagnostics is a Swiss-founded company with the ambition to disrupt the in vitro diagnostics market with affordable and reliable tests to diagnose infectious diseases. WAMA has the expertise and technology to convert multiple tests into one single test, reducing time and money. WAMA is developing the Safe-Blood test to simultaneously screen for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, HTLV and Chagas in a single test. Our preliminary cost-benefit analysis demonstrates the potential to reduce the screening costs from €70 - €250 per donor to €15 per donor.
1,400 European blood donation banks are responsible for the collection of the 15 million blood donations per year. The global blood screening market is expected to grow from €1.3 billion in 2015 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10.2% to €3.1 billion in 2024. The competition is offering solely monoplex tests: one test for one disease. There are currently no players on the blood screening market that use multiplex tests to screen for multiple diseases simultaneously, and the Safe-Blood test will hold a unique position in the market.
WAMA will use the SMEi phase 1 funding to assess the feasibility and commercial potential of Safe-Blood via a user involvement study, a stakeholder engagement study, and a market study to identify the best business model to be applied in the EU.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases RNA viruses HIV
- social sciences economics and business business and management business models
- engineering and technology medical engineering medical laboratory technology laboratory samples analysis
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1870 MONTHEY
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.