MediSieve is delighted to announce that it is
receiving two grants from Innovate UK, worth a total of around £1.56m. One
large biomedical catalyst grant will progress development of a severe sepsis
product, developing five magnetic particles to remove different sepsis targets.
Another SRBI grant enables further focus on one of those particles and how it
can be used to remove anti-microbial resistant (AMR) bacteria from a patient’s
bloodstream. Both are 2-year projects starting in 2019.
Sepsis is a life-threatening infection that
causes the body to attack its own organs and tissues. It kills 44,000
individuals in the UK and affects 20 million people globally each year. Six
million of these are babies and children. Sepsis research is of high priority
because, with mortality over 30% and antibiotic therapies increasingly at risk
from antimicrobial resistance, its human and economic impact have never been
more concerning.
The Biomedical Catalyst (BMC) project aims to
develop a multi-target magnetic blood filtration treatment that is
complimentary to antibiotics, working to address the LPS and cytokines that
antibiotics release and which exacerbate the immune response and elevate
cytokine levels.
The SBRI project explores an alternative to antibiotics to reduce the level of bacteria in the bloodstream of AMR sepsis patients, with the added benefit of LPS removal as a secondary effect.
Both projects involve distinct experimental pathways which can be delivered simultaneously with the added benefit that areas of synergy and overlap reduce workload. Whilst the SBRI project focuses exclusively on targeting and removing E. coli, the BMC project does not include any E. coli or other bacterial testing. The SBRI project includes a clinical trial, whereas the BMC does not.
Speaking about the biomedical catalyst grant Dr
George Frodsham, CEO and founder of MediSieve, says, "Our technology is
like dialysis, circulating a patient's blood through an external loop to remove
disease-causing targets. While dialysis relies on non-specific size-based
filtration, MediSieve uses magnetic particles coated with antibodies (Ab-MP) to
target specific components, and a magnetic filter to extract them.
"The patented MediSieve Filter (MF) can
safely remove magnetic components from the bloodstream. It is already developed
as a treatment for severe malaria (Ab-MPs are not required for malaria, since
malaria infected cells exhibit naturally occurring magnetic properties). The MF
has completed pre-clinical testing and will enter first-in-man clinical trials
in 2019.
"This project concerns the development of
the Ab-MP to apply our technology to Sepsis. Sepsis is caused by an infection
that creates a dysregulated immune response which can escalate to septic shock.
The destruction of bacteria by the immune system or antibiotics creates large
quantities of endotoxins, which aggravate the immune response, causing the
over-production of inflammatory cytokines and a cascade towards septic shock.
Antibiotics kill pathogens, but do not remove them from the bloodstream, so the
immune system's overreaction continues.
"Our Ab-MPs target LPS, gram-negative
bacteria, specific cytokines and damage associated molecular patterns (DAMP),
rapidly reducing the levels in a patient's bloodstream. Used in combination
with antibiotics, it could help eliminate the infection, and reverse the
escalation to septic shock. Treatment of sepsis with antibiotics increases the
LPS load in the bloodstream, since LPS persist after the pathogens have been
killed. LPS, inflammatory cytokine and DAMP levels correlate with clinical
outcomes, and their removal would be beneficial in helping to treat the
disease.
"This project will focus on the development
of the Ab-MP to target LPS, cytokines and DAMP, proving their safety and
efficacy in both laboratory and pre-clinical safety and efficacy trials, and
performing the biocompatibility testing required in order to progress the
treatment to first-in-man clinical trials."
Being awarded both grants is especially
motivating because it enables areas of overlap and synergy across the research
in:
• regulatory work
• expertise and know-how
• the opportunity to include some or all of the
Ab-MPs from the BMC project in the clinical trial of the SBRI project.
This improves the chances of rapid and
successful outcomes of both projects.
MediSieve is a medical device organisation
developing "magnetic blood filtration": a ground-breaking treatment
for blood-borne diseases which filters pathogens directly from the bloodstream.
For more information, visit www.medisieve.com
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