Nexsen plans to engage with regulators in Australia, the US, and the UK regarding StrepSure to secure approval within the next three years. Image Credit: Number1411 / Shutterstock.

Nexsen Biotech has won A$5.5m ($3.56m) in Australian Federal Government and University support for the clinical development of a rapid point-of-care test, StrepSure.

The grant was part of a consortium consisting of Nexsen, RMIT University and Northern Health in Australia as part of the Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) grant process, run by the federal government.

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The A$7.6m StrepSure programme includes A$3m in government funding spread over three years. The funds will support the patient clinical field trials of new low-cost sensor technology in one of the health systems in Victoria, Australia.

RMIT will be responsible for developing a prototype sensor and optimise it through pre-clinical trials. Following this, Nexsen and Northern Heath will conduct validation clinical trials.

Nexsen Biotech plans to engage with regulators in Australia, the US, and the UK, to secure approval within the next three years.

Group B streptococcal (GBS) bacteria are commonly found in the rectum and vagina and affects two to four women out of ten, as per the UK National Health Service (NHS). It can cause serious infections in pregnant women, young babies, immunocompromised patients, and the elderly. The bacteria can be treated with antibiotics, but early detection is important to reduce complications.

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Current diagnostics to detect GBS include bacterial cultures, which deliver results in one to three days. Nexsen’s point-of-care test is expected to provide results within minutes.

The point-of-care diagnostics market has exploded following the Covid-19 pandemic. Multiple companies have invested in developing point-of-care technologies for detecting infectious disease pathogens. In September 2023, Glasgow-based Microplate Dx raised £2.5m in seed funding to develop a point-of-care device to identify effective antibiotics for bacterial infections.

The Microplate Dx’s device would allow for the confirmation of bacterial presence in the sample and perform rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing to identify the effective antibiotic. It is expected to reduce the analysis time from multiple days to just minutes. The company first plans to develop the device for urinary tract infections (UTIs) and has conducted multiple studies of its UTI prototype.