In a recent article in Dagens Industri, Sweden’s leading business newspaper, Capitainer’s shareholder Professor Mathias Uhlén was interviewed about The Human Protein Atlas and the benefits of micro sampling at home, using Capitainer. The CEO of Capitainer, Christopher Aulin, was slo interviewed about the opportunities for Capiatiner as more screening and early diagnostics are implemented.
Professor Uhlén said, “With home sampling, and a lab that can do blood analyses and validation of traditional technology, for example mammography, we have the logistics in place. I think we will see broad screenings in maybe five years, for example for everyone over 50. Finding diseases early, especially cancer, will save an enormous amount of time and money for healthcare and save lives.”
Aulin echoed Uhlén’s view, saying that within a few years we will have a different type of primary care, with greater opportunities for broad screenings.
Aulin continued, “The smart thing about our product is that you can have a lab in Sweden and receive samples from all over the world. It is also very easy to both take and analyze the tests. It will either be a perfect blood test or nothing, so no uncertainty….Our goal is to become a new giant in diagnostics. We have very committed shareholders, of which Mathias Uhlén is one.”
The article can be read in Swedish here. Below you can read Capitainer’s translation of the article into English.
Swedish protein map finds deadly diseases
Swedish innovations for blood sampling at home and analysis of proteins are important building blocks in the healthcare of the future.
“I think we will see broad screenings in maybe five years, for example for everyone over 50. Finding diseases early, especially cancer, will save an enormous amount of time and money for healthcare and save lives,” says Mathias Uhlén, professor of microbiology at KTH and one of the world’s foremost protein researchers.
Ten years ago, we loved the tale about the American Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. In her black polo, she was the female equivalent of Steve Jobs, and investors, ranging from former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to media mogul Rupert Murdoch, threw money at her. Before the bubble burst, Theranos was valued at a breathtaking ten billion dollars.
“It wasn’t that long ago that Elizabeth Holmes came up with her little black box that would analyze 100 proteins from just one drop of blood. It turned out to be just an unrealistic wishful dream. Today, ten years later, the Uppsala company Olink can analyze 5,400 proteins from a small drop of blood,” says Mathias Uhlén, professor of microbiology at KTH and one of the world’s foremost protein researchers.
In the Human Protein Atlas project, he and his colleagues have mapped the body’s 20,000 proteins.
“The protein atlas is the world’s second largest database with 5 million web pages and 10 million pathology images and is used by almost every university and pharmaceutical company in the world.”
Mathias Uhlén says that there has now been a turnaround from the project, from previously focusing on the healthy person to today looking at the profile of various diseases by analyzing blood.
“Olink’s tools, which were developed in Sweden but have now unfortunately ended up in American ownership, are fantastic.”
He is referring to the latest major deal in the medtech sector where American Thermo Fisher Scientific bought the Uppsala company Olink for 3.1 billion dollars, equivalent to roughly 34 billion kroner.
“With Olink’s technology, you can look at the blood profile of basically all diseases in order to find the disease earlier, follow a treatment or determine which respond to different drugs.”
Right now, he and his team are using the tool in the so-called Bamse study. The study, which is one of Sweden’s largest, started in 1994 and has since followed more than 4,000 children born from 1994 to 1996 with a focus on how lifestyle, environment and heredity affect children’s asthma, allergy and lung development.
“We look at 200 of these children, from the age of four until they are adults and look at how their protein profiles change.”
In the current phase of the study, an envelope is sent to the participants with a kit from the Swedish company Capitainer for blood sampling at home. The blood, which is obtained from a finger prick, is dried when it ends up in something that looks like a matchstick and can therefore be sent by regular mail to the lab.
“With home sampling, a lab that can do blood analyzes and a validation of traditional technology, for example mammography, we have the logistics in place. I think we will see broad screenings in maybe five years, for example for everyone over 50. Finding diseases early, especially cancer, will save an enormous amount of time and money for healthcare and save lives,” says Mathias Uhlén.
Capitainer, which was founded in 2016 based on an innovation from KTH, launched its first product in February 2020.
“Our goal is to become a new giant in diagnostics. We have very committed shareholders, of which Mathias Uhlén is one,” says the company’s CEO Christopher Aulin.
“So far, we are a very small company with a turnover of between SEK 7 and 8 million, but we are in the process of establishing ourselves in the USA. The smart thing about our product is that you can have a lab in Sweden and receive samples from all over the world. It is also very easy to both take and analyze the tests. It will either be a perfect blood test or nothing, so no uncertainty.”
Christopher Aulin believes that within a few years we will have a different type of primary care, with greater opportunities for broad screenings.
“Sweden has all the prerequisites for digital care and when healthcare cut costs, new innovations are needed. We also need better coordination between the regions and a national strategy for innovation.”
Bederoff, J. (2023) Svensk proteinkarta hittar dödliga sjukdomar [Swedish protein map finds deadly diseases] Dagens Industri, 9 november 2023. Retrieved on 9 november 2023: https://www.di.se/nyheter/svensk-proteinkarta-hittar-dodliga-sjukdomar/
