CAMBRIDGE, England–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Owlstone Medical, the global leader in Breath Biopsy® for applications
in early disease detection and precision medicine today announces a
strategic collaboration with Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, one of the
Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and a global
leader in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), to discover and
validate a breath-based test to help facilitate the early diagnosis of
pulmonary hypertension and its subtypes. This development program will
be solely funded by Actelion.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive cardiopulmonary disease
where the blood pressure increases in the vessels that transport blood
from the heart to the lungs, placing strain on the right side of the
heart and often leading to heart failure. Unfortunately, early diagnosis
of PH is very difficult, and even at an advanced stage presents similar
to other heart and lung conditions, so a delay of years between the
onset of symptoms and diagnosis and treatment is common. There is
therefore an urgent need for effective tools to facilitate screening and
early diagnosis of patients presenting with early signs of PH and its
sub-groups.
The collaboration will initially involve collecting breath exhaled
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from over 1,000 patients using
Owlstone Medical’s proprietary sampling device, ReCIVA® from sites in
the UK, US and other countries in the EU. These VOCs will be analyzed by
Owlstone Medical to identify those that are associated with PH, in order
to develop biomarker signature(s) that can help facilitate earlier
detection of the disease.
Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, said: “Owlstone
Medical was founded with the objective of improving the early diagnosis
of disease in order to save lives through the application of Breath
Biopsy. This strategic collaboration with Actelion, which is focused on
improving the lives of those suffering from PH and PAH, represents a
tremendous opportunity to do just that. This is particularly true in
underdiagnosed areas such as PH, where early diagnosis is difficult and
so screening has to be simple, reliable, and cost effective. We believe
Breath Biopsy will deliver a program from discovery through to the
launch of a test to the market, and this novel approach will make a real
difference for the healthcare of patients suffering from PH.”
Contacts
Zyme Communications
Sarah Jeffery
sarah.jeffery@zymecommunications.com