Vésale Bioscience receives £1.6m in grants from the EIC Accelerator Fund
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January 24, 2023
Vésale Bioscience, a research and development company of solutions and treatments using phage therapy for multi-resistant infections, has announced it has received €1.8m (£1.6m) in grants from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Fund for its PhageDiag project, a phagogram using artificial intelligence that enables decentralised diagnostics and personalised treatment.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity.
The EIC Accelerator jury highlighted in its decision that: “Vésale Bioscience is tackling the AMR global issue by developing a clear diagnosis that allows a personalised phage treatment which potentially gives a higher rate of success.”
Vésale Bioscience’s selected project, PhageDiag, is a fast and user-friendly diagnostic technology, or phagogram, for personalised phage therapy. It is the first automated in vitro diagnostic tool that enables a quick determination of suitable bacteriophages for treating a particular bacterial infection.
PhageDiag consists of a basic test kit (a disposable well plate with reagents), a high-performance luminometer and a dedicated software that offers the best matching phage combination to treat the patient, using artificial intelligence.
Dr. Johan Quintens, Chief Scientific Officer at Vésale Bioscience, commented: “Personalised phage therapy using magistral preparations of phages is among the most promising solutions to fight antimicrobial-resistant infections.
“This approach requires a rapid diagnostic test to identify the pathogens involved in the infection and choose the phages that would be active on them.
“Unlike current diagnostic methods, which take up to four to seven days, the PhageDiag phagogram compares the activity of up to 96 phages on a bacterial culture within two to three hours, making phage susceptibility testing accessible for hospital microbiology labs and enabling personalised therapy on a routine basis.”
