Aseptika Limited today announced that it has been granted a patent in the United States (US) protecting its invention for a test for respiratory infections, designed to be used by patients at home and by clinicians at the bedside of patients in hospitals. This will open up opportunities for the Company to partner with pharmaceutical companies in the US to act as a distributor for the Sputum test.
The Patent granted to Aseptika in the US (Patent US8980566B2), with other worldwide applications taking place under the International Patent Treaty expected to be granted in the near future. The Patent determines the levels of activity of bacteria in the lungs of vulnerable patients with long-term conditions, such as Cystic Fibrosis (CF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Asthma.
The presence of two very different materials (biomarkers) produced by the bacterium (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) are described, in which the levels of a marker for a bacterial iron scavenging process and levels of a secreted bacterial protein are measured over time. Changes in these concentrations allow levels of bacterial activity to be determined and exacerbations of bacterial infection to be predicted and/or monitored. The methods of the invention may also be used for monitoring effectiveness of antibiotic treatment of lung infection.
The biomarker test is currently being used in the SBRI Healthcare-fundedSENSOR clinical trial in collaboration with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, with volunteers who have COPD and severe Asthma and it is hoped to make a home-use version available within the next year.
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