ProAxsis confirms that new data on its ProteaseTag® technology will be presented at the American Thoracic Society Conference, which takes place between May 19th-24th in San Diego.

The University of Oxford team will be presenting data on NEATstik®, a novel point-of-care test for monitoring active neutrophil elastase in chronic diseases such as COPD, to the US respiratory community for the first time. NEATstik® gives a qualitative result from sputum in 10 minutes with minimal processing. The authors assessed 39 sputum samples and concluded that NEATstik® has the potential to identify those patients with elevated active NE concentrations which could be related to bacterial infection in patients with airways disease.

In addition, the company will be presenting data for the first time on the new, high sensitivity version of its immunoassay for measuring active neutrophil elastase. This immunoassay was developed in recognition of the fact that many researchers are seeking to measure biomarkers in respiratory fluids other than sputum, where the activity levels may be significantly lower. The assay development was co-funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

Details of these two presentations can be found below:

EVALUATING THE SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY OF NEATSTIK® TECHNOLOGY COMPARED TO AN ACTIVITY-BASED IMMUNOASSAY IN SPUTUM SAMPLES.

Presented by Professor Mona Bafhadhel, University of Oxford

AUGMENTATION OF PROTEASETAG® ACTIVE NEUTROPHIL ELASTASE IMMUNOASSAY SENSITIVITY

Presented by Dr Darragh McCafferty, ProAxsis Limited

Dr David Ribeiro, CEO of ProAxsis, said: “NEATstik® was registered with a European CE Mark in late 2017, and we’re delighted that the Oxford team will now be introducing initial data on the product to a US audience for the first time. We’re very grateful to Innovate UK for supporting the development of a new version of our Active Neutrophil Elastase Immunoassay, and look forward to making this product commercially available in the near future.”

ProAxsis is part of the NetScientific group and is one of the group’s core portfolio companies. The company is also supported by QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queens University.

To find out how ProAxsis can support the measurement of active protease biomarkers of disease, or for any further queries, please contact info@proaxsis.com