NEW YORK ─ Inflammatix on Thursday announced it has been awarded $7.4 million by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to further develop a point-of-care test and system to diagnose infection by reading the immune system.
Burlingame, California-based Inflammatix said that the new funding ─ part of a BARDA contract worth up to $72 million if all options are exercised ─ will support continued development and commercialization of its sample-to-answer, point-of-care Myrna test system, designed to read RNA using machine learning and produce results in less than 30 minutes.
The funding will further support the continued development of its ViraBac EZ test, formerly known as HostDx Fever, the firm said. Â
ViraBac EZ reads gene expression patterns in the immune system to identify whether a suspected infection is bacterial or viral, enabling physicians to quickly determine when to prescribe antibiotics. The test will use a fingerstick collection and capillary blood sample, and is designed for use in primary care, urgent care, and other outpatient clinical settings.
"Enabling physicians to make more informed decisions about which patients need antibiotics and which can avoid them has the potential to transform patient care at the point of care," Tim Sweeney, cofounder and CEO of Inflammatix, said in a statement.
In November 2019, the company announced an award of $6 million in the first phase of the contract from BARDA.
The company recently announced that it had received up to $1.1 million from the US Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further develop a rapid diagnostic to predict the risk of severe respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19.