Osler, blood-testing startup, to tap investors ahead of its launch of major diagnostic device

Named after the 19th-century diagnostician William Osler, the start-up was the brainchild of Jason Davis and Conor Campbell, the former, a Chemistry professor at Oxford, while the latter attended medical school at Oxford for three years. Conor hopes to change the face of medical diagnosis with their new age technology that provides cheap blood tests and delivers results in approximately 10 minutes. Blood samples added to the cartridge containing reagents are finally passed through a biosensor that converts the findings of biochemical reactions to measurable data.

Conor stands strictly against any comparison with a similar endeavour by Theranos, whose co-founder Elizabeth Holmes was recently convicted of fraud. In defence, Conor says that their start-up relies not only on a board of diplomats and lawyers but also on experts in "global diagnostics, global pharma and global life sciences."

Campbell's experience with interest in diagnosis resulted from his work with McKinsey at Sierra Leone after the Ebola crisis. The pandemic has changed how we look at medicinal sciences, and diagnosis is the crucial need of the hour.


Response from experts

Although the company has patented innovations at every stage, it is yet to publish papers about its works in scientific journals. Roland Diggelmann, chief executive of device maker at Smith & Nephew, does not view this as lacking. In fact, he expressed opinions about the company's work as being 'promising' and said that they have undertaken a huge challenge by trying to make one device work for every diagnosis, but given the company's background of experts, it is achievable.

Investors have shown interest, with some of Europe's greatest billionaires showing up, including Charles Dunstone, Dermot Desmond and Michael Spencer. Campbell has already raised funds equivalent to $50 mn last year by a Series B funding.

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