Ploughshare Innovations, a Defence Science and Technology
Laboratory (Dstl) spin-out firm, has funded the development
of a revolutionary test that has the potential to predict
whether coronavirus patients will develop Sepsis before
symptoms appear.
£200,000 of initial seed funding has been awarded to
Presymptom Health, a medical diagnostics company in
Wiltshire founded by scientists to develop ground-breaking
innovations in the medical testing arena.
The Sepsis research is based on 10 years of work conducted
at Dstl. This research suggests the test will be able to
determine whether a patient will develop Sepsis up to three
days before symptoms appear. The prediction will provide
extra time to deliver the optimal treatment, thus improving
patient recovery rates and reducing treatment costs.
Defence Minister 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 for developing the prototype diagnostic
test will last six months. This will include trials with
coronavirus patients and testing samples from a Dstl
biobank. Up to 300 patients are expected to be involved in
the trial, with a further 200 samples from the biobank
being used to establish the test’s effectiveness.
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.”
Ploughshare Innovations is the technology transfer office
for Dstl and is responsible for the commercialisation of
the test. Ploughshare has established Presymptom Health as
the vehicle for getting the tests to market.
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 coronavirus
fatalities. A recent Lancet article which analysed the
outbreak in Wuhan, China found that Sepsis was the most
frequently observed complication and that all Wuhan
patients who lost their lives to coronavirus by February
2020 had Sepsis.
