Partnership Aims to Identify non-Invasive VOC Biomarkers

4D Pharma plc, a company focused on developing live biotherapeutics, has signed an agreement which covers the use of Owlstone Medical’s Biomarker Services to discover novel non-invasive biomarkers present in breath that can be applied to the development of effective therapeutics for a wide range of diseases from cancer, to gastrointestinal, autoimmune, and respiratory conditions.

The pattern of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) present in exhaled breath is directly linked to the metabolic processes taking place within the body as well as exogenous sources such as an individual’s microbiome, the many millions of bacteria that colonise the body and play an important role in health and disease.

Breath Biopsy® samples collected from clinical trials site and stored in stable sorbent tubes are then transferred to Owlstone Medical’s service laboratory in Cambridge, UK, for VOC analysis using the company’s FAIMS platform to analyse spectral data and develop classification algorithms.

Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, said: “Our Biomarker Services draw on the experience we have developed through our pioneering work on Breath Biopsy technology and the large breath biomarker clinical trials we are running as part of our own clinical pipeline. We are excited to enable 4D Pharma to discover VOC biomarkers for patient stratification in their own therapeutic programs.”

Professor Paul O'Toole at 4D Pharma Cork Ltd commented: “We are very pleased to initiate this Breath Biomarker Services project with Owlstone Medical. VOCs in breath provide incredibly valuable information about the health of an individual as well as potentially reflecting the metabolism of their microbiome. As such, VOC biomarkers show great potential for patient stratification and could help us to determine which patients would benefit most from our live biotherapeutics.”