£8.7M funding announced for GP tech companies
SBRI Healthcare recently announced the companies that will be benefiting from an £8.7 million investment amongst the developing healthcare competitors to help develop novel technologies aimed at future-proofing primary care and GP services.
Increasing workloads from the health challenges of an ageing population have put GPs and general practices under a lot of stress recently due to winter and an outbreak of flu. The ten companies being funded by the SBRI all recognised the pathways limitations in current technologies and have looked to revolutionise how future general practice will be delivered.
The £8.7 million is one of two investments that have successfully been received by ten driven companies from a shortlist of 22 businesses. They received six months of feasibility funding in April 2017. These companies illustrated their most valued priorities and greatest technical practicability to a panel of experts looking for game-changing automations with the highest potential for patients and the healthcare service.
Among the winning technologies is:– a novel, highly sensitive, simple and low-cost test for the early diagnosis and subsequent therapy monitoring of sepsis, allowing GPs to test much earlier and for treatment to start in the critical early stages.– a point-of-care device capable of performing immediate bacterial infection diagnosis and antibiotic susceptibility testing on urine samples within a GP setting, addressing the rising incidence of antimicrobial resistance that threatens to render current antibiotics ineffective.– a self-care asthma monitor to reduce the demands on primary care through improved management of asthma of which 5.4 million people in the UK suffer and is generally poorly diagnosed and controlled.– a device that measures novel biomarkers in a patient’s breath to immediately distinguish a viral from a bacterial respiratory tract infection allowing the GP to prescribe antibiotics quickly and appropriately.– a technology that allows for automatic vital sign measurement – heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation – whilst booking in with the receptionist, optimising the patient’s visit and maximising time with the GP.
Dr Jo Roberts, clinical lead for Innovation and Medicines Optimisation South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group commented: “The SBRI Healthcare programme addresses challenges that those at the coal face of medicine are facing. It is a privilege to be involved and to see the evolution of technologies that could become the ground-breaking medical innovations of the future. I have been struck by the potential for revolutionary change to the management of patients and I particularly note those targeted at the ever growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. SBRI will help to provide the necessary acceleration to bring these technologies to market – I wish the innovators all the best.”
Dr Matt Pearce, director of medtechtomarket Consulting said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the funding to deliver a rapid, low-cost diagnostic test for early sepsis detection in GP surgeries. Around 40,000 people die in the UK each year with sepsis, and early detection and treatment is key to preventing these deaths. This prestigious SBRI Healthcare award will help us to develop and refine our product, work closely with key senior NHS stakeholders, and gives us the opportunity to demonstrate how our innovation will drastically improve outcomes for people with Sepsis.