Viva in Vitro Teams With ASKA Biotech to Build VIVA-ELISA Sepsis Test

How the technology works

Viva was founded in 2021 as a spin-off of the Murcian Institute for Biomedical Research (IMIB). Its technology stems from the Molecular Inflammation Group led by Pablo Pelegrín and focuses on the NLRP3 inflammasome, a pathway involved in the immune system's inflammatory response.

VIVA-ELISA is one of the first solutions built on the company's platform. It assesses how responsive the NLRP3 pathway is by stimulating samples outside the body and detecting structures known as ASC specks.

Research first, clinical use later

Sepsis is the first clinical indication the company is studying. Its long-term aim is to generate information that could help identify patients at higher risk of a poor outcome and support more personalised decisions. Viva also sees possible research applications in other inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases.

The first version will be strictly for research and cannot be used for clinical diagnosis. Reaching that stage will require analytical and clinical validation as well as regulatory compliance.

CEO Toni Vilaplana said the collaboration is a step toward bringing VIVA-ELISA to the research market by combining the startup's technology with ASKA's industrial capabilities. Viva has secured 2.5 million euros from the European Innovation Council's EIC Transition programme and works with hospitals and research centres, including INCLIVA, which takes part in a multicentre study evaluating biomarkers in sepsis patients.