Update on US Department of Defense Programme

RNS Number : 1955U

Genedrive PLC

16 January 2017

 

For release: 16 January 2017

genedrive plc Reports Delivery of Genedrive® Units and Assays to the US Department of Defense in Programme to Develop a Handheld Biohazard Identifier

genedrive plc, a Manchester-based diagnostics company, today announces it has supplied Genedrive® units and assays to the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for field trials as part its $7.8m development programme for a handheld device to allow for the detection of biohazards - such as biological warfare agents.

Good progress has been made in the second, €2.9m, phase of the programme first announced in March 2016, and the supply of units for field trials follows further development work and validation. 

Genedrive® is a small, portable, versatile system which can rapidly analyse DNA without the need for sophisticated laboratory equipment. In addition to the DoD programme, Genedrive® is being used to test for TB in India and assays are under development for Hepatitis C (HCV) and other infectious diseases. Genedrive® is also being developed for use in aquaculture to test for diseases in commercial fisheries.

The aim of the DoD programme has been to develop a smaller, lighter, more portable system that can detect multiple different agents with a single cartridge to allow more units to be deployed and more tests to be done. This is against a backdrop of military personnel being expected to carry ever increasing amounts of equipment and the logistical and cost implications of that demand.

"The goal of the programme is to use the key characteristics of Genedrive®, its portability and flexibility, to develop a device and test combination that can potentially be widely deployed in the field both for homeland protection and across the world. Our cartridges detect multiple agents but are small enough to fit in a pocket. The device weighs less than one kilogram and is relatively low cost meaning multiple units could be bought and put into use," said David Budd, Chief Executive Officer of genedrive plc. "We are now working with the DoD on tests in the field to confirm the results we've seen so far on Genedrive®'s robustness and the accuracy of the tests".

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For further details please contact:

genedrive plc

David Budd: CEO                                                                                                              [phone]

Matthew Fowler: CFO

Peel Hunt LLP

James Steel                                                                                                                        [phone]

Oliver Jackson

Consilium Strategic Communications

Chris Gardner                                                                                                                    [phone]

Matthew Neal

Laura Thornton

[e-mail] 

Notes to Editors

genedrive plc is a molecular diagnostics company developing and commercialising a low cost, rapid, versatile, simple to use and robust point of need molecular diagnostics platform for the diagnosis of infectious diseases and for use in patient stratification (genotyping), pathogen detection and other indications. The Genedrive® platform and MTB/RIF test have been launched in India and a Genedrive® HCV test has been successfully assessed by the Institut Pasteur, Paris.

Further details can be found at: www.genedriveplc.com and www.genedrive.com 

 

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