Interview: Neciah Dorh, CEO, FluoretiQ

•     What is the unique approach of your company?

Our point-of-care solution uses NANOPLEX™ technology to reduce the time to diagnose bacterial infections from 2 days to 15 minutes. Even with new drugs under development the only way to safeguard the future is to develop the right diagnostic tools to quickly identify bacteria at the point of care. 

•     Which diagnostic challenge in AMR you address?

Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) are the second most common bacterial infection within primary care, with an estimated 150 million cases reported every year. Conventional approaches to UTI often leave patients experiencing extended delays or ineffective medical intervention that leads to recurrent GP visits, long term antibiotic use and hospitalisation.

Our first product supports rapid point-of-care diagnosis for UTI and accurately identifies 95% of commonly reported pathogens: Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosaand Staphylococcus saprophyticus.

•     Please describe shortly the technology you are using. How did you develop this approach?

NANOPLEX™ technology platform exploits the host: pathogen interaction through mimicry of glycan-lectin binding complexes. We chemically modify known glycan structures, so that continue to be recognised by the target bacteria.

NANOPLEX™ probes are mixed directly with the sample where they selectively bind to bacterial targets. From this we can confer the identity of the species, as well as provide a CFU/ml concentration to determine if a clinically significant concentration is present. 

•     How is your financing situation look like?

We are an early-stage, pre-revenue company and have raised just over £1M in grant, VC and angel funding to date. We are currently raising £1.5 Million which will enable us to start product design, performance evaluations and regulatory compliance activities. 

•     What are your next steps in the months ahead and in the long-term?

Our current focus is the development of a user-friendly hardware platform as part of pre-launch activities. We will be working with a design and development partner to translate our current process into a bespoke hardware and cartridge system which is expected to enter clinical performance evaluations in 2021.

We are open to discussing collaboration opportunities.