NEW DIAGNOSTIC TEST TO FIGHT BACTERIAL INFECTION
16/03/2004
A key advance in microbiology testing will shortly be unveiled by one of Partnership UK’s investment companies, Acolyte Biomedica Ltd, a development that will help fight the rise in bacterial infection.
The BacLite Test, a new diagnostic test system for use in hospitals and now in its final stages of development, will revolutionise microbiology laboratory practices cutting the time it takes to test for serious blood infections from 3-4 days to 2-4 hours. This will provide invaluable early warning detection into identifying patient illnesses.
Developed with the benefit of HM Treasury’s Invest to Save budget and equity investment from Partnerships UK, Circus Capital and ANGLE Technologies in this current round, Acolyte Biomedica Ltd, has now secured further funding to ensure its rapid deployment.
This will enable it to accelerate some of the most common tests performed today and to identify appropriate antibiotics to use for serious blood infections.
Speaking about the test programme Shimi Shah, Head of Equity at PUK said:
“This is Partnerships UK’s first joint venture in the science and technology arena and our investment of £1.75 million into the project represents a significant commitment to our participation in helping to develop the UK’s technological base.
“Partnerships UK is proud that its first investment into a venture start up company arises from a spin out and is in such an important area as microbiology.”
The first BacLite test for use in hospitals is now in the final stages of development. By giving a result within 2-4 hours, compared to the existing three to four days currently required, BacLite MRSA is set to reduce hospital costs and provide improved patient care. Further diagnostic test systems will also come on stream which will not only help health services in the UK but also globally.
MRSA, or methicillin-Resistant S. aureus is a common bacterium that has become resistant to almost all hospital antibiotics, making it exceptionally difficult to treat. Current methods take as long as three to four days before a doctor knows whether a patient is carrying MRSA. Other tests to follow up the MRSA roll out will include tests for sepsis and antibiotic susceptibility from blood cultures.
It is expected that the MRSA test will be rolled out later this year.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. HM Treasury has provided significant resources for public service innovation through the Invest to Save Budget (ISB). It provides support for projects which increase the extent of joint working between different parts of government, and promotes innovative ways of delivering public services, reduce the cost of delivering the services and/or improve the quality and effectiveness of services delivered to the public. To date the ISB has allocated £385 million over six bidding rounds to 400 innovative partnerships projects. It has invested £720k from ISB to enable this MRSA test to be carried out in a hospital - £220k in 2003/4 and £500k for 2004/5.
2. Partnerships UK, in which HM Treasury holds a 49% shareholding, has additionally committed £1.75 million to the programme - £1million in 2002 and £750k in 2004.
3. Acolyte Biomedica Ltd is a UK joint venture company spun out of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the Ministry of Defence’s main centre of science. As a UK-based developer of microbiology test systems it has secured £3.7million in venture capital. Its investors include Partnerships UK, ANGLE Technology Ltd and Circus Capital.
4. Acolyte was founded in 2000 as a joint venture between Dstl (an agency of the UK’s Ministry of Defence) and ANGLE Technology. The company has exclusive rights to medical applications of a rapid bacterial testing method developed over 10 years within Dstl. Its products are based on technology used for detecting biological warfare, originally developed by Ministry of Defence.
5. MRSA or Methicillin-Resistant S.aureus is a common bacterium that has become resistant to almost all hospital antibiotics, making it exceptionally difficult to treat.
6. Dstl, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, is the centre of scientific excellence for the Ministry of Defence.
7. Press enquiries to Malcolm Graves at Partnerships UK on 020 7270 5161, to Sue Ellison at Dstl press office on 01980 613933 or Bill Mullen at Acolyte Biomedica on 07919 538136.
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