Serostrat, de LEUKOS BIOTECH, S.L.

The first blood test for the early detection and prognosis of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) accounts for about 25% of all leukaemia in the Western world. Its overall survival rate for 5 years is the lowest of all types for leukaemia (27%): above 60% of AML patients will succumb to the disease. Currently, there is no method for the early detection of AML. It is diagnosed based on the presence of blasts in bone marrow samples and must be treated immediately to avoid a near-future death. Due to this late detection, AML treatment is of low effectiveness. The aggressive and often fatal nature of AML makes it a priority to develop early and fast diagnostic and prognostic tools.

Our client, the Spanish company Leukos Biotech SL (LEUKOS), has identified a new biomarker for the early detection and prognosis of AML. This biomarker is detected and quantified by our innovative In vitro Diagnostic Test (IVD), named <strong>Serostrat</strong>, via a fast, cheap and routine clinical blood analysis.

SeroStrat specifically targets the AML biomarker in blood cells, discriminates between AML unfavourable risk patients and AML patients with intermediate risk; it is minimally invasive and painless (it only requires a blood sample, instead of bone marrow samples); it is fast and non-expensive (it can be used routinely in clinics in blood sample analysis by Flow cytometry) and will permit risk groups (people aged &gt;65), AML new patients and people in remission to be monitored easily and accurately for signs of recurrence.

LEUKOS, founded in 2015, is a spin-off company from the prestigious Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute. In order to carry out their project, they submitted their proposal to the February 2018 call of Phase 1 of the SME Instrument.

From Aristos, we are happy to communicate that they have obtained the necessary grant for starting their project, after obtaining a score of 13.50.

For us, it has been very satisfying to have been able to participate in the triumph of LEUKOS and we wish them great success in the development of their important breakthrough, which will save the lives of hundreds of people.