NEW YORK – Medtech startup Presymptom Health said Thursday that it has secured £200,000 ($253,000) in grant funding that will support the development and commercialization in the UK of its rapid testing platform for sepsis and infectious disease.
The company also said that it plans to initiate in the coming months a Series A funding round to support expansion into the US market.
The firm said that it will use £100,000 from the UK's Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare program to make its rapid tests compatible with QuantuMDx's point-of-care PCR instrument and £100,000 from the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Research to make its rapid tests compatible with Bio Molecular Systems' Mic PCR platform. The company's RNA-based host-response assays use an artificial intelligence-developed algorithm to detect signs of infection, with results up to three days earlier than conventional testing methods.
"By ensuring our technology is broadly compatible across multiple platforms, we're making it easier for hospitals to adopt faster, more accurate infection detection," Presymptom Health CEO Iain Miller said in a statement. "Whether tests are run at the point of care by nurses or in labs by technicians, this flexibility means better diagnoses for all patients."
The SBRI grant will support a six-month feasibility project in collaboration with Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley, the company said. It will use the results to determine the best approach to securing National Health Service adoption of the testing technology.
Last year, Presymptom Health raised £1.5 million in follow-on seed and grant funding to support the development and clinical trials of its sepsis and infection testing platform, and it said at the time that it planned to obtain UK Conformity Assessment accreditation for its first product by mid-2025.