ASPIVIX SA

Their core work

ASPIVIX SA is a Swiss medical device startup developing a vacuum-based cervical grasping device designed to replace the traditional tenaculum — a sharp metal clamp used in gynecological procedures that causes significant pain and bleeding. Their core product addresses a specific unmet clinical need: performing intrauterine procedures such as IUD insertions, biopsies, and hysteroscopies without the trauma associated with conventional cervix grasping instruments. The company progressed through the full EU SME Instrument pipeline, from feasibility validation to full commercialization development, indicating a clear product-to-market focus rather than pure research activity.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ASPIVIX's H2020 trajectory is a textbook SME Instrument story: a single focused product moved from concept validation to commercial scale within two years. The 2018 Phase 1 project established feasibility and business case, while the 2019–2022 Phase 2 project funded full product development, clinical validation, and market entry. There is no evidence of thematic diversification — all funding and effort remained on the same device and the same clinical problem, suggesting a single-product company in its growth phase rather than a broad-portfolio research organization.

ASPIVIX is heading toward post-grant commercialization — having completed the EU-funded development phase by 2022, they are likely focused on CE marking, clinical adoption, and sales in European gynecology markets rather than new research projects.

How they like to work

ASPIVIX operated exclusively as a solo coordinator through the SME Instrument, which by design does not require consortium partners. This means there is no evidence of collaborative research behavior — no co-investigators, no academic partners, no industrial subcontractors visible in H2020 data. Working with them in a future consortium would likely position ASPIVIX as a clinical end-user or technology provider bringing a validated device, rather than as a research driver or coordinator of complex multi-partner work.

ASPIVIX has zero recorded consortium partners in H2020, which is expected for SME Instrument participants — those grants are awarded directly to single companies. Their collaboration network, if any, exists outside what H2020 data captures (clinical partners, distributors, investors).

What sets them apart

ASPIVIX occupies a very narrow but clinically significant niche: atraumatic cervical access in outpatient gynecology, a problem affecting millions of procedures annually but largely ignored by large medtech players. As a Swiss SME that successfully secured both phases of EU SME Instrument funding for the same device, they have validated both the technology and the business case through a rigorous EU evaluation process. For consortia building projects in women's health, digital health in gynecology, or pain management in outpatient settings, ASPIVIX brings a commercialized device and real clinical context rather than laboratory-stage technology.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Aspivix
  The Phase 2 SME Instrument grant of EUR 2.49M is among the largest awards available to individual SMEs in H2020, signaling that EU evaluators rated both the technology and commercialization plan as highly viable.
• ASPIVIX
  The Phase 1 feasibility project (EUR 50,000, 2018) served as the gateway validation that unlocked the much larger Phase 2 funding — completing both phases of the same product is a rare and meaningful signal of consistency and execution.