ATANIS Biotech secures USD 2 million for its FAST-PASE allergy test
Life sciences
3 March 2025
ATANIS Biotech is revolutionizing allergy diagnostics with its highly accurate, functional FAST-PASE test, offering a safer alternative to oral food challenges. | © ATANIS Biotech
Bernese start-up ATANIS Biotech has won Phase 2 of the FARE Innovation Award Diagnostic Challenge, securing USD 2 million to advance its FAST-PASE allergy test.
Bern-based biotechnology company ATANIS Biotech, specializing in functional allergy diagnostics, has been awarded Phase 2 of the FARE Innovation Award Diagnostic Challenge. The company’s FAST-PASE allergy test, a functional ex vivo mast cell activation assay, was selected by FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) after rigorous scientific evaluation, securing USD 2 million in funding to accelerate commercialization and clinical adoption.
Founded as a University of Bern spin-off, ATANIS is focused on revolutionizing allergy testing by replacing outdated, risk-laden in vivo methods with its proprietary FAST-PASE technology. This innovative assay utilizes engineered mast cells that replicate natural allergic reactions when exposed to allergens, offering a safer, scalable, and highly accurate alternative to traditional oral food challenges (OFCs). In a recent clinical utility study, FAST-PASE demonstrated over 95% accuracy in diagnosing peanut allergies.
Strong clinical validation and growing industry recognition
FARE CEO, Dr. Sung Poblete, emphasized the award’s significance: “While OFCs play a critical role in developing new treatments in research settings and diagnosing food allergy in clinical settings, they involve supervised ingestion of a suspected allergen and therefore carry some risk of anaphylaxis for the patient. We are pleased to announce ATANIS Biotech as the newest winner of the Innovation Award Diagnostic Challenge.”
The funding will support FAST-PASE’s development across multiple allergy indications, with ATANIS collaborating with leading global allergy experts, including Mount Sinai, Baylor College of Medicine, SickKids Toronto, and the University of Bern.
ATANIS CEO, Prof. Jean-Pierre Kinet, highlighted the strategic impact of this partnership: “I am delighted to partner with such a highly reputed organization as FARE and such high-caliber scientists and physicians in pursuing our mission of bringing safer tests to allergy patients throughout the world.”
