Opportunity Health SL wins start-up pitch contest

 According to AseBio, co-organiser of the BioSpain 2025, 43 companies pitched their innovations at the record-breaking partnering meeting in Barcelona. According to company founder and CEO Germán Alejandro Sánchez Martín, Opportunity Health’s medical device, Yarnasa, is patent-pending. The ultimate goal is to begin clinical testing with a prototype immediately and to seek investment by the end of the year, in order to pursue FDA approval and obtain the CE mark, which is expected to take around two years. European marketing is planned to start by mid-2027.

The intended purpose of Yarnasa is similar to that of antichoking devices already marketed by the US competitors LifeVac LLC and Dechoker LLC Europe SL: to remove foreign objects from the trachea that obstruct the airways. The major difference with Yarnasa is that it automatically removes obstructions from the airways at the push of a button within seconds, requiring no external assistance. Regarding Yarnasa’s competitor products, the FDA in 2024 recommended that such devices should only be used as a supplement to standard emergency procedures. It remains to be seen whether the FDA will classify Yarnasa differently.

The range of pitches at BioSpain 2025 spanned from AI applications in drug development, to pharmaceutical strategies against cancer and neurological diseases, and even patient identification.