Partnership Working Towards Early Detection of PAH

Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a global leader in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and Owlstone Medical, developers of Breath Biopsy® for applications in early disease detection and precision medicine are collaborating on research to discover and validate a breath-based test to help facilitate the early diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and its subtypes. This development program will be solely funded by Actelion.

The collaboration will initially involve collecting breath exhaled Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from over 1,000 patients using Owlstone Medical’s proprietary sampling device, ReCIVA® from sites in the UK, US and other countries in the EU. These VOCs will be analysed by Owlstone Medical to identify those that are associated with PH, in order to develop biomarker signature(s) that can help facilitate earlier detection of the disease.

Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, said: “Owlstone Medical was founded with the objective of improving the early diagnosis of disease in order to save lives through the application of Breath Biopsy. This strategic collaboration with Actelion, which is focused on improving the lives of those suffering from PH and PAH, represents a tremendous opportunity to do just that. This is particularly true in underdiagnosed areas such as PH, where early diagnosis is difficult and so screening has to be simple, reliable, and cost effective. We believe Breath Biopsy will deliver a program from discovery through to the launch of a test to the market, and this novel approach will make a real difference for the healthcare of patients suffering from PH.”