Xerum AB is a spin-off company from the Department of Clinical Microbiology at Umeå University. The company, which receives business support from the Umeå Biotech Incubator, was founded in 2020 by associate professor Mattias Forsell, associate professor Johan Normark specialist in infectious diseases, and biomedical analyst Julia Wigren Byström. Xerum has developed a sensitive methodology for the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in capillary blood and serum.
During the pandemic, the antibody test has been used for self-sampling in Region Västerbotten, and the company has performed antibody tests several times in national surveys, on behalf of the Public Health Authority (Folkhälsomyndigheten). Today, the product is used, among other things, by FHM to plan vaccine dosing in risk groups.
Now Xerum is being noticed again as the company is one of three nominees for the MedTech4Health Innovation Award. The award recognizes good role models when it comes to implementing medical technology in everyday life.
– It feels great to be nominated for the award. It’s extra honorable that it’s a prize for patient benefit, because it’s something we’re really passionate about, says Xerum’s CEO, Julia Wigren Byström.
The winners will be awarded on May 23 at the Nordics’ leading e-health meeting Vitalis at the Swedish Fair, Gothenburg. The jury will also, for the first time, this year appoint a Patient’s Prize to the project from all the nominations that is judged to be of greatest benefit to patients, users and citizens.
Other nominees for the MedTech4Health Innovation Award:
Tobias Granberg, section manager Neuroradiology Medical Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, who together with partners developed an AI tool for earlier and more accurate diagnosis of MS patients during MRI examinations.
Stig Steen, former professor and senior physician, and Johan Nilsson, senior physician and lecturer at Skåne University Hospital and Lund University, have developed a transport box for hearts before transplants.
