Mologic and University College London Hospitals collaborating in major clinical trial for early detection of sepsis

16 Sep 2019 | Network Updates | Update from University College London
These updates are republished press releases and communications from members of the Science|Business Network

Mologic Ltd, a leading developer of lateral flow and rapid diagnostic technologies, services and products, today announced that it has finished recruitment to a major clinical trial with University College London Hospitals (UCLH) to evaluate the Company’s point-of-care (POC) diagnostic test for the early detection of sepsis.

The trial is being led at UCLH by Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, Mervyn Singer, a global expert in sepsis and critical care, and lead author of the new international sepsis definitions (Singer et al, JAMA 2016).

Sepsis – organ failure resulting from an infection - affects approximately 30 million people every year, with more than a quarter of cases resulting in death. Survivors often have an impaired quality of life that may be permanent. The financial and societal burden of sepsis is thus highly significant. The chances of survival may improve if the condition is recognised early and treated promptly. However, early detection is difficult.  Mologic is developing a novel, high performance POC test leveraging lateral flow immunoassay technology to aid the diagnosis of infection and early detection of sepsis using a panel of six host biomarkers.  The assay will use an algorithm to detect emergent sepsis, aiming to differentiate it from less critical infections and from non-infectious complications, with a qualitative result in 10 minutes. The work is supported by a grant from Innovate UK.

Dr. Joe Fitchett, Medical Director at Mologic commented: “Early detection of sepsis continues to be a challenge, with single biomarker diagnostics not delivering sufficiently specific results. Improved point of care diagnostics are needed to detect sepsis early and initiate life-saving interventions. Mologic’s multi biomarker panel provides rapid, clinically actionable results with the potential to transform how sepsis care is delivered. We are delighted to be working with Prof. Singer, Dr David Brealey, and the clinical trials team at UCLH to build further evidence on the test’s accuracy, utility, and clinical performance.”

Mervyn Singer, Professor of Intensive Care UCLH added:Early diagnosis of infection and sepsis represents a major ongoing challenge as signs and symptoms are often non-specific in the initial stages. Prompt and accurate identification will both facilitate appropriate treatment while avoiding unnecessary use of antibiotics in patients who will not benefit. The Mologic assay has the potential to be a game changer as it offers a near-bedside tool that can provide rapid results.”

To find out more about Mologic visit: https://mologic.co.uk/

About Mologic www.mologic.co.uk

Mologic is a leading developer of lateral flow and rapid diagnostic technologies, services and products. We work with companies, researchers and clinicians to help them deliver fast, reliable and accurate diagnosis at the point-of-care. Our founder, Paul Davis, was the originator of the Clearblue pregnancy test that was launched in 1988 as the world’s first commercial application of lateral flow technology. The creativity, insight and knowledge that led to that ground-breaking invention has guided Mologic since our formation in 2003.

Mologic offers world-leading scientific research expertise for contract research and development in human healthcare, agriculture and aquaculture alongside a portfolio of device and reagent products for clinical and commercial applications. We also help companies to scale-up manufacturing from initial prototyping through low to mid-scale production. Mologic’s science has broad application across markets and disease states where rapid, accurate point-of-care testing can help make a difference in patient care and patient outcomes. The result has been an internal product pipeline of rapid point-of-care diagnostics that include respiratory disease, infection / infectious disease and women’s health.  

Mologic is actively seeking partners for commercialisation of its product pipeline and those looking to create, scale-up or manufacture a new point-of-care diagnostic. 

Mologic is headquartered in Bedford in the United Kingdom and has a US subsidiary in the greater Boston area, MA, USA.

This communication was first published 13 September 2019 by University College London

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