Alivion secures CHF 3.8 million to give mobile devices a sense of smell

Alivion AG is using cutting-edge nanotechnology to extract and quantify one molecule out of a cloud of over 800 molecules in breath. The results are associated with the body’s metabolism allowing patients and health care professionals to evaluate the health status related to a specific biomarker. This will permit to replace blood tests having long been the gold standard for medical diagnostics.

With the financial boost of CHF 3.8 million, the ongoing development of Alivion’s breath analysis platform and its testing can be accelerated. Patient testing is being conducted in collaboration with University Hospital Zurich and other partners.

Handheld device to detect methanol

One of Alivion's remarkable achievements is to create a platform of handheld gas molecule detectors providing the same accuracy of an analytical laboratory. Its first application is detecting methanol in spirits and drinks. In serious cases, methanol poisoning can lead to blindness or even death. It is usually triggered by contaminated alcoholic beverages that have been illegally mixed with methanol.

Methanol is also a most promising green fuel and represents a game-changing opportunity for the shipping and other industries to navigate towards a more sustainable future. Alivion's detectors will support health safety of any worker handling methanol, being it in a harbor, on a vessel or elsewhere.

In addition to the good news of the financial boost, Alivion is also welcoming Dr. René Lenggenhager as a new board member. His background in electrical engineering, physics and sensor technologies combined with leadership positions at publicly traded companies such as Mettler-Toledo, Bruker BioSpin, Comet Group and others will contribute to the ongoing growth of the company.

(Press release / SR / SK)