Ploughshare innovations, a spin-out firm from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), is funding a new test that can predict whether coronavirus patients will develop sepsis before symptoms appear.
An initial seed funding package of £200,000 has been awarded to Presymptom Health, which is a medical diagnostics company in Wiltshire.
The company was founded by scientists to develop ‘ground-breaking innovations’ in the medical testing arena.
The Sepsis research is based on 10 years of work that has been conducted as DSTL.
The research suggests the test should be able to determine whether a patient will develop Sepsis up to three days before symptoms appear.
The idea behind the determination is to provide extra time in delivering optimal treatment to the patient, improving recovery rates and lowering treatment costs.
Defence Minister Jeremy Quin said:
“It is encouraging to see DSTL partnering with the private sector to spearhead vital scientific knowledge that will help many coronavirus patients during this pandemic.
“DSTL scientists are some of the UK’s best and brightest minds. We are grateful for their commitment to developing powerful medical technology that will save lives across the country.”
The first phase of the test’s development will last 6 months and will include trials with coronavirus patients and testing samples from the DSTL biobank.
300 patients are expected to be involved with a further 200 samples from the biobank being used.
Gary Aitkenhead, Chief Executive of DSTL said:
“The work we do at DSTL is fundamental to the defence and security of the UK and we are constantly seeking ways in which our technologies can be applied to deliver impact to the wider society.
“Here, we have a unique concept that has the potential to improve the lives of thousands and DSTL is proud to be the science behind this novel development.”
Roman Lukaszewski, lead scientist on the Sepsis work at DSTL said:
“This funding is fantastic news. It will see a programme of work that is backed by the most comprehensive Sepsis study ever conducted and one that I have personally been involved with for more than 10 years finally come to fruition.
“It will be an amazing achievement and will have benefits for the treatment of Sepsis on a global scale.”
Presymptom Health will recruit a core external team from industry who will provide general management, clinical project management, regulatory and quality assurance and key R&D diagnostic development skills.
The test prototype itself will be developed by expert technicians. The team will operate from offices at Porton Science Park and the London area.
Iain Miller, Presymptom Health’s CEO, said:
“This is a significant step to help in the fight against coronavirus. Presymptom Health develops new tests to determine the presence of diseases in patients before they show symptoms.
“Having the opportunity to leverage DSTL’s ground-breaking work and apply this Sepsis technology to aid clinicians dealing with the pandemic is deeply important to us.
“We are confident this technology will provide vital and life-saving information when it is most needed.”
Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, Ploughshare’s CEO, said:
“It is unusual for Ploughshare to make investments such as this, however, given how much potential this technology has we saw the value in accelerating its development.
“Beyond coronavirus, the test will have the potential to help with the treatment of the 49 million people worldwide affected by Sepsis every year, and to also prepare us for future pandemics.”
Sepsis has been linked to a number of fatalities from coronavirus.
A lancet article analysing the outbreak in Wuhan found that Sepsis was the most frequently observed complication.
All Wuhan patients that died from coronavirus infection by February had Sepsis.
