| BALTIMORE, MD Thu, Apr 3, 2008 Governor Martin O’Malley announced today that Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures and markets microarray-based systems for infectious disease and genetic testing, has received a $200,000 investment from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED). The investment will be made through DBED’s Challenge Investment Program, which is designed to assist start-up companies in the high technology and life sciences industries.
“It is critical that Maryland continues to foster a supportive environment for home-grown life sciences companies like Akonni Biosystems, which will ensure that Maryland is well positioned for tomorrow’s economy,” said Governor O’Malley. “Akonni's cutting-edge work with disease detection has global implications and offers hope to millions of people around the world for a quicker, more thorough diagnosis.”
“Akonni is delighted to accept this investment from the DBED, a source of funds that will help us accelerate the build-out of our manufacturing capabilities and accelerate our path through the FDA approval process,” said Dr. Charles Daitch, Akonni Biosystems CEO. “With the increasing threat to human health from highly infectious diseases like respiratory viruses, MDR-TB, and hospital acquired infections like MRSA, it is extremely important that products like Akonni’s TruDiagnosis® system enter the market, with the goal of lowering disease transmission rates and reducing healthcare expenditures through more efficient patient isolation, triage and more timely and proper prescription of therapeutics.”
Akonni’s TruDiagnosis® system enables accurate, rapid, and highly affordable molecular-based testing for infectious and other human diseases. Its first products include assays for detecting the most common upper respiratory infections and multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB). By providing standardized operating procedures and automating otherwise complicated manual laboratory procedures, Akonni’s customers benefit as they are able to reliably test for multiple disease states from a single patient sample and receive results in two hours or less. Founded in 2003, the company is a graduate of the Frederick Innovative Technology Center and recently moved to a newly renovated, 11,000-square-foot manufacturing and product development laboratory in downtown Frederick.
According to the 2007 Washington G-2 Report on business strategies for molecular diagnostics in the lab, the U.S. molecular diagnostic testing market represents the fastest-growing and most-profitable area of the United States’ $51.7 billion clinical laboratory industry. The report values the molecular diagnostics market in the U.S. at $4.1 billion in 2007 and estimates that it will continue to grow by roughly 19 percent per year for the next three years.
About DBED’s Challenge Investment Program
DBED’s Challenge Investment Fund provides financing for start-up technology companies to cover a portion of the initial costs associated with bringing new products to market. Companies are required to provide matching funds to be eligible for the State funding. Since its inception, the Challenge Investment Program has provided more than 100 emerging technology companies with initial financing support for the commercialization of new technology-driven products. To be eligible, a company must have no more than 25 employees and annual sales revenues of $1 million or less. For more information, visit www.choosemaryland.org.
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