Gates Foundation first as it puts $6.5m funding into Owlstone Medical
Owlstone Medical has secured $6.5million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The investment comprises $5m equity investment to advance Owlstone’s breath biopsy platform and $1.5m in grant funding to develop breath-based diagnostics and identify breath biomarkers for tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. It is the first time the foundation has taken an equity position in a breath diagnostics company.
Cambridge Science Park-based Owlstone, with support from the foundation, is developing new cost-effective detection technologies for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that could serve as markers of diseases that disproportionately affect the developing world. With the new funding, Owlstone seeks to understand whether this approach is suitable for TB and HIV detection and to explore a path by which breath-based testing could be deployed for rapid screening and earlier diagnosis.
The equity investment will support advancements of Owlstone’s breath biopsy platform, including expansion of the Breath Biopsy VOC Atlas database and for development of a remote-use real-time breath analyser.
The $1.5m grant to support the identification of breath biomarkers will be used across two projects:
- TB: In partnership with the University of Cape Town, South Africa, Owlstone aims to identify a panel of on-breath candidate VOC biomarkers that differentiate TB subjects from healthy controls and to develop breath diagnostic approaches based on exploiting the metabolic features of TB using in vitro approaches.
- HIV: Working with investigators from Imperial College, UK, and Oxford University, UK, Owlstone will analyse VOCs from blood samples from subjects with HIV and will work to identify a panel of on-breath candidate VOC biomarkers that correlate with HIV viral load.
In both areas, the data collected will also be used to further populate Owlstone’s Breath Biopsy VOC Atlas.
Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, said: “Early diagnosis is a critical determinant of health outcomes. By enabling swift and non-invasive detection of disease, breath analysis has the potential to save lives and dramatically reduce the burden of illness in resource-constrained settings.
“This investment by the Gates Foundation is testament to how Owlstone is uniquely positioned to transform infectious disease diagnosis through our Breath Biopsy platform.
“The funds will accelerate both the discovery and validation of VOC biomarkers, and the development of a fieldable, low-cost, simple to use device.”
Activities complementary to this project are under way with the US Department of Defense via the ‘EXHALE’ project, where Owlstone is developing a handheld device capable of non-invasive detection of pre-symptomatic respiratory infectious disease, providing further support for Owlstone’s ability to advance the foundation’s mission.
