GenPrime gets grant through Sirti fund
Spokane biotechnology company GenPrime Inc. plans to use a new $500,000 loan from a fund for regional technology companies to finance field testing and marketing of its latest product — a rapid test for bacteria in blood platelet supplies.
The company still requires federal approval of its portable BacSTAT device, which it is looking to launch this year, said Johnny Humphreys, chairman of GenPrime’s board of directors.
GenPrime is the first company to receive a loan from the $3 million Sirti Technology Growth Fund, designed to distribute federal economic development money to grow Eastern Washington tech firms that do not qualify for traditional bank financing. The Sirti Foundation Board of Directors and Business Development Corp. of Eastern Washington administer the fund, founded last June.
Unlike other blood products used for transfusions, platelets, the clotting element of blood, must be stored at room temperature, Humphreys said.
“There’s not been any good method for testing to see if they have been contaminated with bacteria just prior to a transfusion,” he said.
The company says the BacSTAT, its first foray into medical devices, can find bacteria in a 1 milliliter sample in about 20 minutes. It operates similar to a home-pregnancy test, using platelets instead of urine, Humphreys said.
While pricing won’t be set until BacSTAT gains U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, “It has the potential to be the largest revenue producer for us,” Humphreys said. That approval should come within about three months, he said.
GenPrime faces competition from a Boston-area company, which is also waiting for FDA approval of its product. Although the companies are racing to market on one hand, Humphreys said, having both products available could boost the confidence of would-be customers.
The BacSTAT is the “first of many medical applications that we’ll have,” Humphreys said. Started in 1997, GenPrime has about 10 employees and is still operating in “investment mode” despite profits from its other products, such as yeast-activity monitoring equipment used by the fermenting industry and biological-threat-detection equipment used by defense and law enforcement agencies.
The Business Development Corp., “an investment consortium of community and regional banks and businesses,” matched $250,000 in federal money to offer the loan, according to a Sirti Foundation news release. Officials are processing a few other loan applications now, and at least one more loan is expected by summer’s end, said Sirti spokeswoman Linda Hemingway.