Other high profile investors in the medical startup include former Macquarie Bank CEO Allan Moss and property developer Lang Walker as key investors. Atomo makes rapid diagnostic tests for a range of conditions and diseases including big global challenges such as HIV, Malaria, and Ebola to everyday consumer products like pregnancy and vitamin deficiency tests that require just a drop of blood.
Atomo Diagnostics, CEO John Kelly says the HIV self test began selling in South Africa this year.
The company’s test integrates lancing, blood collection and delivery components into one device. After pricking the skin, the lancet is locked out of the way and a capillary tube automatically collects the 10 microliters of blood required for the AtomoRapid HIV test. The blood is then automatically delivered to the HIV test strip, which provides results within 15 minutes.
Combining these different components into one device reduces opportunities for error, cutting down on false negatives while increasing the speed of diagnosis.
It was the simplicity, accuracy and potential of the test which caught the interest of the Bill and Melinda Gates backed Global Health Investment Fund which seeks to support new innovations which can help address many of the world’s healthcare challenges.
The fund has US$108 million to invest in so-called social impact investments aimed at advancing the development of drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other interventions against diseases that disproportionately burden low- and middle-income countries.
Its main focus is late-stage innovations for public health challenges with an emphasis on diseases that cause significant morbidity and mortality in poorer countries. The fund’s investment in Atomo saw Dr. Curt LaBelle, a managing partner at the Global Health Investment Fund, join Atomo’s board of directors.
Earlier in 2016 Atomo received a AU$7.8 million (US$6 million) loan from the GHIF and in 2015, won a AU$1.8 million (US$1.3 million) grant from the New South Wales Medical Device Fund to develop a version of its HIV test with a built-in digital reader.
“Our fund is pleased to provide additional support to Atomo Diagnostics through this equity investment. Atomo has developed a unique platform enabling quick, accurate and affordable point-of-care and consumer diagnostics,” Dr La- Belle said in a statement.
CEO of Atomo Diagnostics, John Kelly, said sales of the HIV test to consumers and medical professionals would begin in South Africa later in 2016.
Atomo has been exporting the AtomoRapid HIV to Southern Africa since the start of 2014 where the product has demonstrated overwhelming user preference and continues to win over professional users with its ease of use and reliability. The company is also looking to sell the product directly to consumers to help speed up rates of detection.
Early detection leads to better treatment outcomes. Mr Kelly said a European study of the company’s finger prick test showed it was 99.8 per cent accurate, meaning 1 in 500 infections would not be detected.
HIV advocates and researchers are excited about self-testing because there are potentially millions of people with HIV worldwide who do not know they have the virus. If people are diagnosed early, treatment can help them control the virus, making them virtually non-infectious.