A cutting edge biotech firm has raised £3.5m in investment to fund its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose cancers and save lives.
Newcastle’s Biosignatures is developing a new system that uses advanced machine learning to analyse blood tests to diagnose illnesses at a much earlier stage.
The company was founded by Dave Bamwell and Will Dracup – who previously founded and sold Nonlinear Dynamics – after realising that new technology had the potential to vastly improve blood tests.
At the moment GPs only have access to two types of blood tests that can detect cancer in patients.
However, using the £3.5m investment, Biosignatures will analyse hundreds of thousands of samples from biobanks with the aim of developing 20 new diagnostic screening tests.
The research will take several years but if successful will mean that all 20 tests could be performed with just one blood sample and be capable of diagnosing cancers and dementia.
Will Dracup, co-founder and CEO of Biosignatures, said: “It is safe to say that if Biosignatures can deliver on this vision - as we believe we can - it will be transformative for healthcare delivery world-wide.
“Vast amounts of money can be saved if an effective set of screening tests can be developed.
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“We will literally be saving billions by saving millions.”
Biosignature’s technology works by measuring proteins in the blood to find minute changes that could signify the early stages of an illness. The data collected will be analysed using the machine learning system to find out which measurements can be used to diagnose different disease.
The company’s first product is a blood test for prostate cancer, which has been developed with the NHS. In an independently blinded validated trial the test performed four times better than current methods.
It is hoped the result will lead to the test being widely used in the NHS, with the potential for millions of tests to be carried out each year.
Dave Bramwell, Biosignatures’ CTO, said: “We have spent many years optimising and perfecting the large, high quality data set production capability needed for the successful application of our advanced AI discovery systems. This work gives us confidence that the biosignatures we discover will translate and validate in the clinic.
“Further, the modified proteins we measure have been implicated over recent years as critical in many disease processes from cancer to dementia. These two key elements combine into a unique capability which places us at the forefront of the production of new clinically relevant early diagnostics - identified as a critical need for healthcare systems worldwide.”
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The £3.5m investment was led by Accelerated Digital Ventures (ADV), which specialises in investing in long term business ideas. The group’s investors includes British Business Bank, Legal & General and Woodford Investment Management. The investment in Biosignatures was received from ADV’s British Business Bank ECF fund.
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Mike Dimelow, co-founder at ADV, said: “We’ve now invested more than £25m into health and wellbeing startups and have looked at hundreds more.
“Biosignatures is completely unique and has the potential to make a giant leap in diagnostic blood testing. This team is disrupting a trillion dollar industry and so competing with billion dollar companies.
“To truly fulfil this vision the team need the backing of the ecosystem and significant funding. We’ll do everything we can to back their ambition and we’re so excited to be involved.”