Sense Biodetection

IMPACT CASE STUDIES

TRANSFORMING HEALTHCARE BY REDEFINING DIAGNOSTICS

IMP RATING: C – CONTRIBUTES TO SOLUTIONS Our COVID-19 test product can allow infected patients to be isolated sooner whilst providing reassurance to uninfected individuals, including healthcare workers, that they can return to work without infecting others. Due to its flexibility, speed and accuracy, the test can be deployed for rapid patient triage within hospitals, as well as primary care practices, pharmacies and community centres and even distributed for use by individuals in isolation who suspect they may have COVID-19.

HARRY LAMBLE

CEO

We have applied the Impact Management Project (IMP) framework (see IBC for further details) in summarising the impact of a selection of our investments.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Sense Biodetection is a global molecular diagnostics company focused on empowering patients and transforming healthcare access and affordability by bringing lab-quality results though easy-to-use, rapid, disposable molecular tests without the constraints of an instrument. The company’s Veros™ product platform will enable widespread testing to enhance patient access, improve population health and lower systemic costs. Sense Biodetection is growing rapidly as it prepares to launch Veros™ COVID-19 and build a portfolio of tests for other diseases.

IMPACT THESIS

In an ever changing world, realising the full potential of molecular point-of-care diagnostics requires a new approach – one that meets the actual needs of front-line caregivers. Sense Biodetection is creating unconstrained, instrument-free molecular diagnostic tests that allow caregivers to open the care pathway to everyone – in a way that is nothing short of revolutionary.

IMPACT SUMMARY

Sense Biodetection’s technology allows for fast, highly accurate, PCR-quality testing to be performed almost anywhere by anyone, within 15 minutes in a single-use device. Sense’s Veros™ disposable test format is easy for healthcare providers to master, and offers the flexibility to run one test or dozens at the same time, eliminating workflow bottlenecks at the point of care in comparison to other instrument-reliant testing systems. Medical professionals and patients benefit with accurate results available immediately (as opposed to waiting for PCR results for days via a central laboratory test, or inaccurate results from a fast antigen test) and patients are correctly triaged into the appropriate care pathway, avoiding escalating severity of illness and pathogen spread and associated systemic costs. Providers benefit both financially and operationally at the point of care. Providers secure a revenue benefit when higher-reimbursed molecular tests can be done at the point of care as opposed to a central laboratory. They also secure a cost benefit in comparison to other machinebased testing solutions by eliminating the acquisition and servicing costs of capital equipment. Sense’s approach also has zero switching costs for providers. Operationally, providers eliminate the constraints of sequentially testing patients with machine-based PCR systems that often take 30 minutes or more per test. Providers can treat more patients per hour and improve patient satisfaction and quality of care, influencing referrals and repeat business. Sense’s innovation also has the potential to enable telehealth’s promise of increased access, quality, and affordability of care by closing the diagnostic testing gap that currently exists. While telehealth has surged during the pandemic, ancillary services like diagnostic testing remain problematic for telehealth-enabled providers, as the patient or the patient’s sample must still travel to a diagnostic testing lab. With advanced telehealth platform technology and highquality molecular testing available to be distributed in a home use format, the systemic friction of the current testing paradigm can be eliminated, and may become important across many conditions including respiratory viruses and sexual health indications. Innovation in the diagnostics space is rapidly progressing. Up until now the focus has been on developing smaller machines and modular cartridges in the razor/razor blade format. Even with smaller, more cost-effective machines, the aforementioned limitations remain, and telehealth extension is likely an impossibility. To be successful, the emerging instrument-free solutions must deliver timely results to match the point of care workflow that typically runs on 15-minute appointment intervals. Technical risk on Sense’s first product (COVID-19) has been negligible, with clinical trials currently underway. As Sense expands the testing portfolio, minor technical risks remain for single-pathogen respiratory products and multiplex tests or pathogens beyond respiratory and sexual health. With economies of scale and a broader testing menu, Sense expects to be profitable while delivering Veros™ to multiple market channels at a cost that is attractive to healthcare customers and consumers worldwide.