£1.2m innovation award for Manchester diagnostics firm’s latest kit

Manchester molecular testing business, genedrive, expects to benefit from a £1.2m innovation award.

The Development and Validation of Technology for Time Critical Genomic Testing (DEVOTE) grant, from Innovate UK and the UK government Innovation Accelerator programme, will provide the company with acute care patient access and supporting infrastructure to assess the real world clinical performance of time-critical clinical tests in NHS settings.

Genedrive said it will benefit through the programme’s lead partner, the University of Manchester, that will support the evaluation, validation and implementation of its new Genedrive CYP2C19 ID Kit.

DEVOTE is funded through the Innovate grant, in-kind contributions, and other aligned funding, the vast majority of this funding will be paid directly to the University of Manchester to support the company’s initiatives.

James Cheek, genedrive chief executive, said: “The DEVOTE programme is an incredible opportunity for us to partner once again with the University of Manchester in developing time-critical genetic test solutions.

“The grant funding allows us to avoid costs that would otherwise have been incurred by genedrive directly and to benefit from accessing the Acute Medicine Unit, which is paramount to our product validation under IVDR.”

Mr Cheek assumed the CEO’s role earlier this month when former CEO, David Budd, announced his immediate departure.

Genedrive’s ward-based genetic test has received a product mark from the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed), the UK’s equivalent of the European CE mark, after a process taking several years of development and validation.

The test can quickly tell healthcare professionals if stroke patients will benefit from the current first line treatment, to prevent recurrence.

Strokes affect more than 6,000 people in Greater Manchester each year. Individuals carrying changes in a gene called CYP2C19 are twice as likely to have further strokes when treated with the first line preventative treatment, clopidogrel.

Genedrive worked with a clinical team from The University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) on the device.