GFC Diagnostics Wins Global Award for Development of Cheap, Quick and Simple MRSA Test

Northampton business GFC Diagnostics based in Chipping Warden, has been awarded one of the fiveLongitude Prize Discovery Awardsawarded to UK organisations for the company's ground-breaking development of a test which successfully detects antibiotic resistant bacteria, including the superbug MRSA, within 30 minutes.

The test, which was developed in association with Northampton University, called MicroScreen, detects the genes inside the antibiotic resistant bacteria and is a major breakthrough in the battle against drug resistant infection, now widely regarded as a ticking time-bomb. Chief Medical Office, Professor Dame Sally Davies has said:"Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat"adding that "antibiotic resistance represents a threat that may be "as important as climate change for the world".

MicroScreen presents a cheap, quick and simple test which can be used on pre-operative patients in hospital to establish if they carry antiobitic restistant bacteria, including MRSA, to to avoid uneccesssary use of antiobiotics and ensure they receive appropriate treatment for their own recovery and the well-being of other patients. .To date other tests available are complex, need to use expensive equipment and take around three days for the results to be made available.

Bruce Savage, CEO of GFC Diagnostics says "Our test takes about thirty minutes and does not need expensive equipment or highly trained staff.

"This test could be a major step forward to reduce the harm caused by drug resistant bacteria. Drug resistant infections are on the rise with up to 50,000 lives lost each year to antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe and the US alone. This rapid test will give a quick diagnosis and prevent the unnecessary use of broad spectrum antibiotics. It will reduce healthcare costs by helping to stop the spread of deadly infections throughout a hospital."

The technology can also be used to detect other bacteria including deadly strains of drug resistant tuberculosis and CPE (Carbapenem Aseproducing Enterobacteriaceae). Bruce Savage said: "The grant will help our work to detect the so called ‘nightmare bug' CPE which is resistant to nearly all known antibiotics, is often fatal and spreading fast across the world.

The Discovery Awards were announced at The Royal Society in London and mark the second anniversary of the Longitude Prize - a global challenge to tackle the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by reducing overuse of antibiotics.

GFC Diagnostics will receive a grant to be used in developing ideas and overcoming the technical challenges of making a submission for the main Longitude Prize challenge which offers £10 million for the development of a novel, affordable and rapid point-of-care test that could be used anywhere in the world to determine when antibiotics should be used.

According to the Longitude Prize's latest UK public survey¹around three-quarters (74%) of people believe a positive test for bacterial infection should be compulsory before being able to access antibiotics. Eight in ten (81%) agreed that having access to a cheap and simple home test for bacterial infections would affect their decision of whether to seek out antibiotics. Attention is turning increasingly to the role of diagnostic tests to combat the spread of antibiotic resistance, as seen with the recent announcement of the Boots-NHS partnership on pharmacy-based bacterial tests for sore throats²

Daniel Berman, Longitude Prize lead at Nesta, the innovation foundation, said"We're delighted to announce today the recipients of Longitude Discovery Award funding, chosen from a field of over 70 teams of inventors. The groups receiving these grants are working across a range of technologies, from nanosensors to gene detectors to lasers, but they are all working towards one goal - the development a tool which will radically transform the way people access antibiotics and help to fight the growing threat of antibiotic resistance."

The team at GFC Diagnostics: From left Bruce Savage, CEO, Dr Graham Cope Technical Director, Dr Graham Mock, Senior Scientist and Alex Savage, Scientist.

ENDS

NOTES

1. Populus interviewed a sample of 2,348 UK adults aged 18+ from its online panel between 26-28 October 2016. Surveys were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. Populus is a founder member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information atwww.populus.co.uk.

2. www.england.nhs.uk/2016/11/nia-innovations/

For interviews and photographs please contact Sarah Airey, The Buzzworks. Tel 07855 086447 emailsarah.airey@thebuzzworks.co.uk

GFC Diagnostics

GFC Diagnostics was formed in 2007 at the Cherwell Innovation Centre in Oxfordshire to develop and promote saliva and urine SmokeScreen tests. In 2015 the company embarked on an R & D programme to develop rapid, easy to use tests for point of care situations culminating in the MicroScreen test for detection of MRSA within 30 minutes.GFC Diagnostics developed the MicroScreen test using a technology developed at the University of Birmingham by Dr. Graham Cope and an invention by Dr. Graham Mock. The test can detect genes inside antibiotic resistant bacteria, including the ‘super bug' MRSA.

Working in association with the University of Northampton, the programme is being extended into a clinical evaluation of the test and with plans to broaden the programme to detect other bacteria associated with antibiotic resistance.

The company plans to license the technology to a British company that makes products for detecting bacteria using conventional culture technology. The end product will be the only rapid DNA based test that can easily detect antibiotic resistant bacteria without the need for laboratory facilities and equipment thus making it suitable for use in a hospital or in situations across the world where facilities are basic.

Bruce Savage, CEO, founded Cytocells, a molecular diagnostics company and a number of bioscience companies including GFC Diagnostics. He is a special professor at the University of Nottingham business school, an honorary fellow at the Cass Business School and was a member of Vince Cable's Entrepreneurs Forum.

Dr Graham Cope, Technical Director, is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

Dr. Graham Mock, Senior Scientist, has worked for many biotech companies in both the USA and UK in the area of DNA probe technologies.

Alex Savage, Scientist, has recently graduated from the University of Newcastle.

www.gfcdiagnostics.com/ @gfcdiagnostics

The Longitude Prize

The Longitude Prize has been developed by Nesta, the UK's innovation foundation, with a £10 million prize fund to develop a rapid diagnostic to help tackle antimicrobial resistance. It was announced by the Prime Minister at G8 in 2013 and is being supported by Innovate UK as funding partner. The Prize commemorates the 300th anniversary of the Longitude Act (1714) when the British government threw down the gauntlet to solve one of the great scientific challenges of that century: how to pinpoint a ship's location at sea by knowing its longitude.www.longitudeprize.org/@longitude_prize

Twelve teams, including GFC Diagnostics, were presented with Longitude Prize Discovery Awards - five each from the UK and India and two from the US. Each receives a grant of up to £25,000 to be used in developing ideas and overcoming the technical challenges faced by submissions for the mainLongitude Prize challenge.

Nesta is an independent charity enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery and provides investments and grants to bring innovative ideas to life.

www.nesta.org.uk/@nesta_uk

Antibiotic Resistance

In a report commissioned by the David Cameron, Lord Jim O'Neill predicted that "we could be seeing 10 million deaths per year caused by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in 2050". "We are already seeing the consequences of AMR, with estimates of around 50,000 deaths per year recently in Europe and the US, due to antibiotic resistant infections, and far greater numbers worldwide," The O'Neill Report arrived at a number of conclusions. One was that antibiotics should only be prescribed when there was evidence of a bacterial infection which demanded the availability of rapid, simple to use tests for bacteria, of which none exist. This led to the creation of the Longitude Prize of £10million which would be awarded to anyone who developed such a test.