SBRI Healthcare fast tracks cancer diagnostic inventions with £3.8m funding

iStock.com/luchschen 

SBRI Healthcare has awarded a total of £3.8m in funding to four innovative technology companies that are in the process of developing cutting edge cancer diagnostic tools.

The companies, C the Signs, Cambridge Oncometrix, Chromition and Deep Med IO were among the winners of the July 2017 SBRI Healthcare national competition, which had appealed for healthcare technology solutions geared specifically towards more effective cancer screening and diagnosis. Today’s phase two funding comes in addition to the original £100k investment award made by SBRI Healthcare to each of these companies.

Now that these winning companies have demonstrated technical feasibility over a six-month development phase, the latest investment by SBRI Healthcare means that the companies are in a position to further develop and commercialise their technologies, and be fast-tracked to market. C the Signs is already available on the NHS and the other innovations could potentially be used in primary care or within NHS hospitals in the next few years.

Karen Livingstone, National Director of SBRI Healthcare, commented: “The role of SBRI Healthcare is to support technological innovations that tackle specific unmet needs within the NHS. The challenge of enhancing our cancer screening and diagnostic capabilities is a key area of need: by 2035, it is projected that at least 500,000 people will be diagnosed with cancer in the UK each year.

“Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has made clear his support for new technology as a way of supporting improved outcomes for patients, and the Prime Minister, Theresa May, has spoken of the need to make a step change in the way we diagnose cancer. SBRI Healthcare has responded to these challenges and the reality that UK cancer survival rates need to improve by focusing on innovations to accelerate the diagnosis of cancer.

“Each of the four winning companies was selected on the basis of their potential to deliver improved outcomes for patients and on their potential value to the NHS. The fact that this clutch of projects encompasses technologies including digital pathology, histopathology, liquid biopsy and artificial intelligence, demonstrates the range of innovations available to the NHS. We look forward to working with the inventors of these incredible, ground-breaking technologies to help make their technologies a reality in primary care and within our hospitals.”

Read the full story here.