Thames Valley: University of Reading start-up awarded £1m contract to develop heart attack test

A test that could revolutionise the treatment of patients admitted to A&E departments with heart attack symptoms has moved one step closer to development.

Capillary Film Technology (CFT), a start-up co-founded by Dr Alexander Edwards from the University of Reading's School of Pharmacy, has been awarded £1m by Small Business Research Initiative for Healthcare (SBRI).

The funding will be used to turn cutting-edge research, developed at the University of Reading, into a product which could play a crucial role in reducing stress for both patients and NHS frontline services, as well as save lives.

There are around 124,000 actual heart attacks in the UK each year. But many more people suffer heart attack symptoms such as chest pains, the majority of whom will be transferred to an acute cardiac ward ‘just in case'. They are then faced with an agonising wait for diagnostic test results which take from six to 12 hours. In 2012 over 180,000 people were admitted urgently to cardiac wards with chest pains who were then discharged without further treatment.

By miniaturising laboratory tests into tiny tubes about the size of a human hair, CFT’s device, providing multiple analytical tests, produces results 20 times faster, can be portable and disposable, and provides more conclusive diagnostic results than a single test.

Performing multiple tests quickly allows CFT's new test to diagnose heart attacks in the A&E department within 30 minutes, allowing heart attack sufferers to be treated more quickly. It will also rapidly reassure those who have not suffered an acute cardiac event, and free up bed space in specialist cardiac units. Crucially, in this time of pressure on health budgets, unlike other ‘microfluidic' technology, CFT's miniaturised tests are very inexpensive to produce.

Edwards said: "This is a fantastic example of university research and innovation being transferred into industry to help solve real-world problems. The new product will enter clinical testing in regional hospitals in 2016, with a launch expected at the end of 2017."

Dr Paul Durrands, chief operating officer of Oxford Academic Health Science Network, said: "CFT's SBRI Healthcare funding success is a great example of how NHS clinicians, universities, and emerging UK health tech SMEs can be connected by the Academic Health Science Networks.  It brings together patient benefit and economic growth in our vital life sciences sector, by delivering cost-effective innovation to solve real NHS problems.

"Oxford AHSN brought together a leading academic from the University of Reading with a leading clinician from Buckinghamshire Healthcare to develop an outstanding health technology for the benefit of NHS patients."