NEW YORK (360Dx) – MBio Diagnostics today announced it has been awarded a Phase II contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for the further development of a portable multiplexed immunoassay system.
The contract will allow MBio to continue work on its platform that would rapidly deliver a panel of host response biomarker results. Along with building on work performed during a Phase I DARPA program, the contract complements a National Institutes of Health program, started in September 2017, to develop a prognostic tool to aid in stratifying sepsis patients with the highest risk of mortality.
MBio, based in Boulder, Colorado, did not disclose the amount of the Phase II contract but said that the two DARPA contracts and the NIH award together total $1.5 million if all phases and options are awarded. The company is collaborating with Hector Wong, director of the division of critical care medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, on the programs.
MBio noted in a statement that infection and tissue damage can release signaling proteins into a patient's bloodstream, and being able to rapidly analyze panels of host response markers can lead to new diagnostic and prognostic methods to more effectively manage patients "during the time-critical phase of acute infection."
MBio CEO Chris Myatt added that the firm's goal "is to help transform the management of severely ill individuals by delivering biomarker panel results in minutes in the emergency department or intensive care unit, rather than waiting for hours for laboratory tests."