SLIGO-BASED firm Epona Biotech is about to begin field trials on a working prototype of the world’s first portable equine blood analyser, and is on track to bring the product to market in 2012.
Trainers, breeders and devoted amateur owners will be saved the frustration of waiting several days for their horses’ blood test results – which have to be sent to laboratories for analysis – once Epona’s hand-held reader gains traction in the veterinary diagnostics market.
The device can deliver lab-standard blood analysis at the stable door, enabling vets to make an immediate diagnosis and prescribe treatment for a sick horse in a single visit. It will also be used to assess fitness and performance potential, which is of particular importance in competitive fields such as racing.
“There’s nothing more frustrating than having a sick horse, or having a horse going into competitions, and you’re not sure if it’s ready to go or not,” says founder and chief executive Dr Heinrich Anhold. An on-the-spot blood analysis can provide peace of mind that the horse is competition fit.
Epona, which won the best emerging company category of the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn competition last year, is embarking on a new fundraising round to finance the process of refining its prototype and launching the finished product next year.
Dr Anhold, a former junior international showjumper, sold one of his top horses to raise the initial seed capital needed to found the company nearly four years ago. Since then, Epona has been fortunate in the calibre of investors it has attracted, with the likes of Trinity Biotech co-founder Jim Walsh coming on board.
“It’s not just me with an idea anymore,” Dr Anhold says. “We’re a company with a technology; we’re getting into the market now. By the end of 2012 we’ll be looking to scale.”
The company is already ramping up its operations with the establishment of a laboratory facility at its premises in the innovation centre at IT Sligo, and is in the process of recruiting a number of additional PhD-level staff.
Epona’s strategy is to capitalise on the opportunity sitting on its doorstep, ie Ireland’s status as a world leader in the racing industry, and to use its home market as a launching pad.
Dr Anhold, whose parents run an equestrian holiday business in Grange, Co Sligo, says Epona’s business plan is to penetrate the market by targeting leading figures in the equine industry, such as vets who work with high-profile racehorse trainers. “It’s a lot to do with word of mouth, customer endorsements, key influencers in the market which we have access to, especially in Ireland . . . and that will get us traction within the marketplace,” he says.
The company plans to expand into European and US markets and will be export-oriented.
The device also has the potential for a much wider application, in the pet market. Cracking this lucrative sector forms part of Epona’s longer-term game plan. “Equine is an entry point to the veterinary diagnostics market,” Dr Anhold explains.
Extensive testing has already been carried out on the product, and Epona is now gearing up for field trials to validate that the technology works “outside of the lab and in our customer’s hand”.
The device uses “lab-on-chip” technology licensed from the Dutch electronics giant Philips.
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