Biophage Pharma awarded NRC-IRAP funding to develop next generation Biosensors
Tuesday January 15, 12:24 pm ET
MONTREAL, Jan. 15 /CNW Telbec/ - (TSX.V: BUG). Biophage Pharma Inc. today announced that it has received confirmation of financial support from the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) for the development of its next generation of PDS(R) Biosensors which will rapidly and specifically detect life threatening pathogens like Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli O157.
These first targeted bacteria were chosen based on the urgency to minimize the spread of hospital acquired infections and controlling contamination in our food supplies. Hospital acquired infections are the fourth leading cause of death in North America and within this category, MRSA and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are the two most prevalent bacteria. On the other hand, E. coli O157 is the leading cause of foodborne illness, causing severe bloody diarrhea, and occasionally kidney failure (a life-threatening condition mainly in immunosuppressed patients).
"This financial support represents a cornerstone in our R&D program and will enable us to accelerate the development of our next generation biosensors. Our first generation, the PDS(R)16 biosensor, detects the total bacterial load in a biological sample and the second generation of biosensors will specifically detect MRSA, Pseudomonas and E. coli O157." said Dr. Mandeville, President and CEO of Biophage Pharma Inc. "Presently, almost all diagnostic techniques take between 8 to 16 hours, and our objective is to provide an accurate diagnosis of these infections/contaminations in less than 5 minutes," added Dr Mandeville.
