Pneumonia is a leading cause of mortality for children worldwide, second leading cause of death in SG (19.4%)
- Current diagnostic methods cannot provide real time diagnosis of pneumonia severity and lung tissue damage
- Current kits also only rely on identifying pathogens in pneumonia patients
- There is a requirement for an accurate reflection of pneumonia severity to facilitate prompt clinical judgment and management
Market Impact
- Respiratory Disease testing market expected to reach USD 3.1 Billion globally in 2022 at a CAGR of 3.4% from 2014 - 2022 (Transparency Market Research)
- Main market is in the Americas – generating a revenue of more than USD1.5 billion by 2019. This is facilitated by initiatives under the Affordable Care Act.
Technology Description
- cANGPTL4 increases pulmonary tissue leakiness and exacerbates inflammation-induced lung damage during influenza pneumonia
- cANGPTL4 is also detectable in sufficient quantities in sputm and blood specimens, which are routinely obtained for current diagnosis
- cANGPTL4 levels in normal and pneumonia patients have been analysed to derive ranges of basal and positive values
- An enzyme immunoassay that can correlate cANGPTL4 levels in patient samples with severity of pneumonia has been successfully developed and optimised.
Development Status
- Biomarker has been validated in Western Blot and ELISA
- Manufacturing standards for the ELISA diagnostic kit has been optimized
- Currently, technology is validated on a multi-centre study in SG, Japan, France and China
Current IP position: Provisional patent application filed.
Future Progress
Upon successful in vivo demonstration of this technology’s safety and efficacy, the technology is ideally placed as a licensing opportunity to MNC / SME operating in stent manufacturing fields.
Prof Vincent Chow/ National University Health System