Upfront Diagnostics
Increasing access to neurosurgical procedures for high-risk stroke patients.
Funding Opportunity
Upfront Diagnostics are seeking 2,000,000 GBP for starting commercialisation of the “LVOne”, a rapid blood test to detect stroke patients in minutes in Europe and US.
£2M
Series A
Overview
Upfront diagnostics is a company funded by The University Venture Fund, Apex Ventures, Innovate UK, NHS England and the Stroke Association based at the Cancer Research UK laboratories in the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
They develop innovative MedTech products that can help reduce disabilities and deaths. Their mission is to enable longer living and sustainable health for the people of the future. The first product that they have commercialised is the “LVOne”, a rapid blood test to detect stroke patients in minutes.
The Challenge
There are thousands of stroke patients missing out on a “miracle treatment” called mechanical thrombectomy which involves a neurosurgical procedure currently only available at 24 specialised hospitals in all of England. The sooner a patient is transferred to one of those specialised centres, the more chances for the patient to survive disability-free. The problem currently is the identification of this type of stroke known as “Large Vessel Occlusion or LVO” is not available in the pre-hospital, so patients need to be transferred to a non-specialised hospital before they can be diagnosed. This inter-hospital transfer delays treatment in almost 100 minutes.
The Solution
LVOne allows paramedics to identify LVO strokes and transfer them directly to a specialised centre. The company’s main innovation is its blood biomarkers that have shown the highest accuracy and are protected under patent.
LVOne can increase thrombectomy procedures by 56% saving £11Bn in Europe and US every year. This is aligned with the NHS long-term plan, reason for the test to be recently included by the MHRA and NICE in the Innovative Device Access Pathway.
Purchases will be made by hospitals through the Integrated Stroke Delivery Networks who wants to improve patient care and reduce costs.
Management Team
Gonzalo Ladreda | CEO
Marketing student, started his career very early in 2013 (18), as co-founder of Fresh!Clothing. Since January 2018, he has been part of the “Accelerate Program” at Cambridge Judge Business School. He has been named in the Forbes 30 under 30 Class of 2023 Europe for Science & Healthcare.
Dr Edoardo Gaude | CSO
PhD in Oncology from the University of Cambridge (UK) and have been working for 10 years on the discovery of biomarkers for different human diseases. He has a deep passion and a high respect for science, and have published several research articles in Nature, Cell and other big-shot scientific journals (check out his ORCID profile to learn more).
Dr Joshua Bernstock | Chief Medical Officer
Resident physician (Neurosurgery) at Brigham and Women’s and Boston Children’s Hospitals, specialized in pediatric neurosurgical oncology. Dedicated to translational science and medicine. His driving desire is to improve outcomes for stroke patients by developing and improving novel, targeted therapies and diagnostics.
Contact
