BIC

The Interreg project BIC made the commercialization of biomarkers more manageable with respect to regulatory, clinical and business aspects, and paved the way for increased market uptake of biomarkers used in diagnostics and treatment.

The challenge

Biomarkers, or markers providing information on the health status of a person, measure cellular, biochemical or molecular changes in human tissues as well as cells or fluids. They contribute to future diagnostics and treatment. The development of biomarkers is time consuming and expensive, requiring the involvement of industry from early stages to better direct the research.

Researchers lack the knowledge of complex commercialization processes and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have poor understanding of regulatory frameworks.

The BIC platform intended to facilitate knowledge and best practice exchange among business and research representatives, offering tools that support the commercialization process and maturity assessment.

details

Budgets

BIC
in numbers

2.39

Million

Total
1.83

Million

Erdf
0.00

Million

Eni + Russia
0.00

Million

Norway

Achievements

Valuable tools developed

The BIC project developed the tools to help researchers, SMEs, and technology transfer officers (TTOs) to cope with complex regulations related to the commercialization processes of biomarkers. Additionally, the tools allow the users to better understand clinical and business aspects. They guide researchers and product developers, step by step, through the technology readiness levels (TRL) and remind them of what they need to think about, within each phase of the process. The partners created the “Master Tool” which allows users to access all tools online in one single portfolio and thus simplify the tools´ searchability.

Improved conditions for cooperation

BIC considerably facilitated the collaboration between the research and business sectors as well as simplified the communication with technology transfer officers by standardising the biomarker development processes. The project equipped researchers with knowledge on commercialization while SMEs received assistance to better consider regulatory frameworks. These target groups, which were well involved throughout the project, can now use a common framework and work better together.

The Interreg project BIC used EUR 2.29 million to evaluate biomarkers´ commercialisation processes, simplify its manageability. The project laid grounds for faster and easier biomarker commercialisation that is further upgraded within the project extension phase. This shall speed up the market uptake and improve diagnostics and treatment of citizens across the Baltic Sea region.

Outputs

Master tool

The “Master Tool” is a functional online solution. It guides researchers and product developers, step by step, through the technology readiness levels and reminds them of what to consider within each phase of the biomarker commercialization. It has been developed and refined through the piloting activities.

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Project Stories

01.12.2020

Commercialising biomarkers faster to improve medical treatment

A project was set into motion in 2017 with the ambitious aim to facilitate and standardize the commercialization process of new biomarkers. Biomarkers are increasingly important in disease risk prediction, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment response. The BIC project concluded in September 2020 and brought about some tools that can help medical companies to bring new biomarkers to the market faster.
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25.04.2022

Enabling the market uptake of biomarkers used in diagnostics and treatment

In the Interreg project BIC, partners from six countries around the Baltic Sea worked together to bring biomarkers into medical companies’ offers faster. In this way, BIC pushed forward personalised diagnostic and treatment for patients across the region.
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