Third Tranche of BARDA Funding Supports Diagnostic Designed to Read Immune System and Rapidly Diagnose Acute Infection at Point of Care

Burlingame, Calif., November 18, 2021  — Inflammatix, a pioneering molecular diagnostics company, announced today a contract extension of $12.1 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The funding is part of a BARDA contract worth up to $72 million if all options are exercised.

The new funding will be used for continued development and clinical studies to support FDA clearance of the ViraBac EZ^TM test, which reads gene expression patterns in the immune system to identify whether a suspected infection is bacterial or viral. ViraBac EZ is intended to help physicians quickly and accurately determine whether to prescribe antibiotics in ambulatory settings. The test will use a capillary blood sample, ideal for use in primary care, urgent care and other outpatient clinical settings. The funding also supports development of the sample-to-answer, point-of-care system on which ViraBac EZ, and all Inflammatix’s tests, are run. The system is designed to read mRNA and analyze the results using a machine learning algorithm to produce answers in less than 30 minutes.

One of the biggest threats to global health today is antibiotic resistance. Increasing and incorrect antibiotic use leads to antibiotic-resistant bacteria that become more difficult and costly to treat, and more deadly. Today, an estimated 30 percent of antibiotics are inappropriately prescribed to patients because their infections are not obviously bacterial or viral in origin.¹  In addition, almost three million Americans each year become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, with more than 35,000 dying as a direct result.²  New diagnostic methods that can help better direct antibiotics to only those patients that need them will be an important element in combatting antibiotic resistance, ensuring that proven therapies can continue to fight disease and save lives.

“We are enthusiastic about developing a test with the potential to play a large role in addressing antibiotic resistance and ensuring the right medicine gets to the right patients,” said Tim Sweeney, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of Inflammatix. “With ViraBac EZ and all of our tests, we are integrating diverse patient cohorts in product development to ensure that our tests will perform in real-world practice across multiple clinical settings, from doctor’s offices and outpatient clinics to the emergency room. This approach is important because the patient response to infection can vary. To successfully change clinical practice, a test must be robust enough to use in different types of patients, infections, and clinical contexts.”

About Inflammatix

Inflammatix is a molecular diagnostics company that is reimagining diagnostics by reading the patient’s immune system to deliver rapid results that improve patient care and reduce major public health burdens. The company’s initial focus is on acute infections and sepsis, where its tests combine proprietary biomarkers and advanced machine learning to help physicians quickly get the right treatments to the right patients. Each test will be developed to run on the company’s sample-to-answer isothermal instrument platform in under 30 minutes, enabling the power of precision medicine at the point of care. The Burlingame, California based company is funded by Khosla Ventures, Northpond Ventures, D1 Capital Partners, and Think.Health Ventures, among others. For more information, please visit www.inflammatix.com and follow the company on Twitter (@Inflammatix_Inc).

This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under contract number 75A50119C00034.

References

1. Hersh AL, King LM, Shapiro DJ, Hicks LA, Fleming-Dutra KE. Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in US ambulatory care settings, 2010-2015. Clin Infect Dis. 2020; ciaa667, org/10.1093/cid/ciaa667.
2. Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Resistance. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Updated July 20, 2020. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/index.html.