Prolight Diagnostics strengthens board with experienced business developer
Prolight Diagnostics expands its Board of Directors with Kiarash Farr, who has extensive experience in sales, business development and diagnostics.
– I hope and believe that my experience will contribute to Prolight Diagnostics’ business development and market launch.
Prolight Diagnostics develops a Point-of-Care (POC) analysis system that enables detection and measurement of biomarkers at low concentrations. The analysis requires only a single drop of blood and provides results in 10 minutes.
– This unique digital technology, which counts individual molecules from a drop of blood, can most likely be a game changer in the IVD POC market, says Kiarash Farr.
The system is called Psyros and is initially being developed for the measurement of troponin to rule in or rule out myocardial infarction. In the longer term, Kiarash sees great opportunities in many other clinical areas other than just cardiac diagnostics.
– This is an extremely interesting paradigm shift in POC diagnostics. Today, there are many biomarkers that can only be analysed in highly specialised laboratories, which could instead be moved closer to the patient with the Psyros system. There is a great need for fast, cost-effective and reliable test results.
Kiarash Farr elected at AGM
Kiarash Farr was elected as a new member of the Board of Directors at Prolight Diagnostics’ Annual General Meeting on May 27. Kiarash is currently Senior Vice President Commercial Operations at Boule Diagnostics. Previously, he was Senior Director of Commercial Operations in EMEA at Hycor Biomedical, which manufactures and sells in vitro diagnostic products. He has also held several sales and business development roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific, IBA and Scanditronix.
Kiarash Farr tells us what he hopes to contribute to Prolight Diagnostics’ board:
– I hope that my international experience in strategic partnerships, business development, sales and marketing and product launches will contribute to Prolight Diagnostics’ future partnership, business development and a successful commercial launch.
In addition to Kiarash, Prolight Diagnostics’ Board of Directors consists of Chairman Masoud Khayyami and board members Maria Holmlund, Ulf Bladin, Steve Ross, Aileen McGettrick and Tobias Volker.
– As part of the experienced and competent Prolight Diagnostics Board, I also look forward to contributing to the global positioning of the product, from a strategic perspective, to benefit both the company’s customers and shareholders.
Great need for fast and accurate POC systems
Kiarash also mentions that the interest in and acceptance of POC tests increased significantly during and after the Covid pandemic. However, there is still a great need for rapid and accurate near-patient testing and better analysis systems. Prolight Diagnostics’ product solution, where individual troponin molecules can be counted digitally, enables the early detection or exclusion of a suspected heart attack, which in turn can lead to significant resource and cost savings for the heavily burdened healthcare system.
– Prolight has tremendous potential in the POC market thanks to its proprietary, unique POC technology, meeting the high demand for fast, reliable, highly sensitive assays such as troponin. The user-friendly nature and low production costs of the Psyros system also make it perfectly suited to meet the market’s needs.
Opportunities and challenges
Prolight Diagnostics is currently focusing on finalising the system for clinical validation and subsequent commercialisation. Prolight faces many opportunities, but also challenges, according to Kiarash.
– We have ambitious timelines with the Psyros system to meet, but, given that the company has effectively delivered on all its ambitious goals in recent years, the likelihood is high that the set milestones will also be achieved according to plan. An important and critical area will be a successful Go-to-Market strategy.
According to Kiarash, the company will need to work strategically to enter partnerships for commercialisation. He looks forward to contributing his expertise in business development to ensure Prolight succeeds.
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