According to Glycanostics, up to 76% of prostate biopsies are negative, and each one is painful and carries risks. Glycanostics, a Bratislava company built on research at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, measures changes in glycans, the sugar chains attached to proteins in the blood, to separate men who need a biopsy from those who do not.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,987,387 towards a €2.84 million project to validate and register the test. By the end of the project in February 2024, it had been run on about 500 serum samples with an accuracy the company describes as better than existing tests. The company had planned to file for CE certification in 2022; at project close the dossier was "mature" but incomplete, and we found no CE registration since.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Glycanostics s.r.o., Bratislava, Slovakia (VAT SK2120651368)
- Scientific leads
- Ján Tkáč (CSO), Tomáš Bertók (CTO), both from the Slovak Academy of Sciences
- Product
- Giasay / ProSCAN glycan blood test for prostate cancer (in development)
- Pipeline
- Tests for breast and nine more cancer types planned
- Strategy
- License to a multinational diagnostics or pharma company
- Patents
- First patent May 2023; European patent granted January 2026
- EIC project
- ProSCAN, 1 Oct 2021 to 29 Feb 2024, closed
- EIC funding
- Grant first
Where Glycanostics Stands Today
The company's website shows it active in 2026: a European patent granted in January 2026 for a glycoprofiling standard, a new head of clinical and regulatory affairs from January 2026, and participation in the EIC Scaling Club's Growth Forum in March 2026. Its product page still describes the aim as to "clinically validate & register" the test with "accuracy of up to 90%". Its business development page says it planned to "file CE certification for the prostate cancer diagnostic test" in 2022, followed by a breast cancer test in 2023, and that its strategy is to license the tests to a multinational company.
The Technology: Reading Sugar Chains
Cancer changes how cells decorate proteins with glycans. Glycanostics' test captures a biomarker from blood serum on magnetic particles and measures its glycan pattern, which the company says separates healthy men from those at risk of prostate cancer who need a confirmatory biopsy. It plans similar tests for other cancers.
"Our aim is to clinically validate & register an affordable, non-invasive next-gen liquid biopsy prostate cancer diagnostic test with accuracy of up to 90%."
Glycanostics, product pageWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The CORDIS report for ProSCAN, which ran from October 2021 to February 2024, says clinical validation on about 500 serum samples gave an AUC of 0.84, "significantly outperforming PSA-based tests", and that in earlier validation the test scored 0.82 against 0.74 for Beckman Coulter's PHI test. It estimates the test could avoid about 1.6 million biopsies a year in the EU and US, reports five patent applications with a first patent granted in May 2023, and interest from several pharma companies. The CE-IVD registration dossier reached "a mature state" but was not completed during the project.
- Clinical validationPartialAbout 500 samples, AUC 0.84; target accuracy up to 90%.
- Intellectual propertyDeliveredFive applications; patents granted 2023 and 2026.
- CE-IVD registrationNot achievedDossier incomplete at project end; none announced since.
- Licensing dealNot shownInterest reported; no deal announced.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
We found no announced private funding round. Besides the EIC grant, the company cites a national APVV research project. The award was "grant first", under which any EIC equity is decided later, and we found no EIC Fund investment. Slovak company accounts were not accessible for this article.
What cannot be checked
The validation data behind the AUC figures, the timeline for CE registration, and the company's finances are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
Prostate cancer screening is on the EU's agenda, and tests that cut unnecessary biopsies would reduce harm and cost. Glycanostics is a science-led company from Slovakia turning academic glycan research into a diagnostic.
What the project promised
A clinically validated, registered, non-invasive glycan test for prostate cancer.
What the record shows
A validation on about 500 samples and new patents, but no CE registration four years after the planned filing.
The Verdict
Promising science, slow to market
ProSCAN produced encouraging accuracy numbers and a stronger patent position, and the company is plainly still working. But a diagnostic only reaches patients once it is registered and sold, and the CE filing Glycanostics planned for 2022 has not been announced. In January 2026 it hired a head of clinical and regulatory affairs to take it forward.
Glycanostics has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.
