Medical Device Network

Deepull debuts point of care sepsis detection UllCORE system

Deepull plans to seek partnerships and start clinical trials for the UIICORE system next year.

Spanish medical diagnostics company Deepull to debut its point of care diagnostic UIICORE diagnostics system for detection of sepsis.

Sepsis is the third leading cause of death in US hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.7 million adults in the US develop sepsis each year, with 350,000 dying as a result. There is no single diagnostic test for sepsis, a combination of blood tests usually diagnoses it.

UIICORE system uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to extract microbial DNA from the human blood sample. The test covers 95% of sepsis-causing pathogens, including bacteria and fungi, and antibiotic resistance genes and provides results in one hour. The normal culture test can take over three days to give results.

Deepull plans to unveil the UIICORE system at the ESCMID Global 2024 conference, taking place in Barcelona from 27-30 April. The company also plans to seek partnerships with hospitals and laboratories.

“We are encouraged by early results based on prospectively obtained specimens from septic patients and look forward to initiating clinical trials next year, as well as refining the platform ahead of commercial launch,” said Deepull CEO Jordi Carrera.

The use point-of-care diagnostics has increased following the Covid-19 pandemic. The in vitro diagnostics market is expected to grow to be worth $38.5bn in 2030, as per a GlobalData market model.

Other companies developing sepsis detection technologies include Asep Medical. In June 2023, the company unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) technology for the rapid detection of infections associated with severe sepsis. Mednition also received breakthrough device designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its AI-powered sepsis solution, KATE Sepsis.

In November 2023, Cytovale raised $84m in a Series C funding round to continue the rollout of its sepsis diagnosis test, IntelliSep rapid sepsis diagnosis test. The test allocates patients into three bands based on their sepsis probability using a standard blood sample. It assesses the body’s immune response to an infection and delivers results within ten minutes.