An Edmonton diagnostics firm that took top prize in a provincewide business plan competition says the win has helped accelerate its development schedule by at least six months.

Picomole Instruments Inc. was awarded $108,000 in cash and in-kind prizes for LifeSens, a clinical breath-analysis device that can diagnose certain ailments in a patient with only a breath of air.

The company bested two other finalists in the fifth annual VenturePrize competition earlier this month: One from the Calgary area and another from Edmonton.

"I was surprised and elated because all this hard work paid off," says company founder and CEO John Cormier.

Photo courtesy Picomole Instruments Inc.
Picomole Instruments CEO John Cormier (left) and VP of technology Denis Dufour celebrate their VenturePrize win.

"This probably accelerates us by six to nine months, easily.

I was afraid that maybe the time wasn't right for us, maybe it was too early as we were competing against two other worthy companies - both of which are generating revenues - whereas we're still an early-stage company."

Applications for LifeSens are practically unlimited in the diagnostic sector, says Cormier. The product, an instrument for rapid-breath analysis, is completely non-invasive, provides results quickly and is easy to use.

While applications to diagnose kidney or liver disease, diabetes, and breast cancer are possible, Cormier says the initial intent is to focus on diagnosing asthma.

LifeSens works by measuring hundreds of compounds involved in human metabolism and indicators of wellness and disease states. The platform is capable of rapid gas analysis at the parts-per-trillion level, making it extraordinarily sensitive. To get an idea of how small a part per trillion is, Cormier says it is like a pinch of salt in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

"In clinical diagnostics, the indications by any number of the compounds exhaled by a person provides a wealth of information that is completely untapped. We know of breath compounds directly linked to blood compounds that are presently used to diagnose kidney disease, diabetes, and much more," says Cormier.

"We're going to be measuring compounds that researchers have already shown are linked to specific diseases."

Cormier says there is currently no good predictive indicator of an asthma attack.

He also says the product is still early in the development pipeline, so that if there is a strong market demand for other uses, Picomole can switch gears.

Picomole will use the prize money to complete its lab prototype, allowing them to bring people to the lab to show them the product.

"The prize money is a big boost for us," says Cormier. "Similarly, the in-kind support is also valuable to us as it allows to work with even more valuable people and as a startup, that's very important because we're very lean right now."

Picomole was one of 131 participants from across Alberta that took part in this year's competition at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton. It also marked the first time the VenturePrize program was held as a stand-alone event.