Omed Health’s breath checks: Hope for sufferers ravaged by abdomen issues
People battling intestine issues are set to search out it simpler and sooner to find remedies that work because of a brand new hand-held breath monitor, produced by medical diagnostics developer Omed Health.
Due for launch this yr, Omed’s non-invasive Health Breath Analyser measures the quantities of methane gasoline and hydrogen in exhalations, dependable indicators of somebody’s digestive well being.
A linked app helps this by monitoring signs and potential triggers over time which additional assist understanding of underlying points resembling intolerances and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Omed’s gastroenterologists or the affected person’s personal physician can then interpret the info, assist with remedies and file progress.
The machine (costing as much as £249) marks a serious step into client providers for Omed, a specialist digital platform concentrating on digestive well being that was launched in 2022.
It sits as a division inside world-leading UK illness detection and precision medication pioneer Owlstone Medical, the world’s greatest breath evaluation lab based mostly in Cambridge which at the moment employs 186 employees and is recruiting.
Maximising Owlstone’s breath testing expertise, Omed is already providing checks utilized by 15 NHS trusts in addition to to customers – with 11,500 kits shipped up to now – that detect small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) which causes diarrhoea and stop carbohydrates being absorbed.
The price of poor intestine well being worldwide is colossal, estimated at some £9.5billion yearly, greater than the expenditure on coronary heart illness or psychological well being, and with greater than a billion affected.
A number one trigger of labor absences, 9 million within the UK reside with IBS and wait on common 6.5 years to get a analysis, a course of involving quite a few GP visits and sometimes failed fad diets and dietary supplements.
Owlstone was spun out of Cambridge University in 2004 by co-founder and awarding successful engineer Billy Boyle who’s chief government of each operations.
It was wanting into how intestine illness was ravaging each sufferers and NHS sources that led Boyle to launch Omed which forecasting a £90.8 million turnover come 2028.
“We knew our cutting-edge technology could provide tangible solutions for consumers and better tools for doctors to support patients,” he explains.
“At-home tests give a lot of information but little interpretation. Our patients are not overloaded with a lot of data that they need to work out themselves and we will also help identify treatments.
“Companies that provide similar tests do not off this clinician support and cannot prescribe treatment meaning patients have to interpret data themselves and often have to go back to their clinician for prescriptions which makes the whole pipeline longer.
“Many gut health patients have been promised overnight miracles which tests their mental health and resilience and we are mindful of their difficult journey.”
The UK and US (2024) are key markets and inside these, probably the most related prospects are girls, probably the most prone aged 20 to 50, together with recurring victims and the “worried well” who often monitor their well being.
Another necessary consumer group are clinicians looking for trusted diagnoses which might be simpler and faster to acquire so have a much bigger affect on bettering sufferers’ lives.
Investment of £45.5 million in 2021 helped get Omed up and working and got here from an oversubscribed fifth spherical or Series D funding, normally the final development stage earlier than a enterprise lists or is acquired.
Gut well being has turn into far more of a scorching subject lately too, freely spoken about because of social media, the wellness motion and common demand for evidence-based options.
“This is where Omed Health comes into its own,” says Boyle.
The firm has joined forces for research with The Functional Gut Clinic and is open to different companion approaches.
A chemical trial for the early detection of lung most cancers is ongoing and OMED additionally has liver illness, a silent killer, on its checklist.
“The UK needs more champions for UK medical innovations,” declares Boyle who additionally urges “it should be easier for small firms to list on the London Stock Exchange”.