SBRI Healthcare Awards £800k to pioneering innovations in the Stroke and Technology field

SBRI Healthcare has announced the nine winners of Competition 18, Stroke and Technology. The pioneering MedTech innovators will share £800,000 in development funding for their solutions to help improve stroke pre-hospital diagnosis, rehabilitation and life after stroke.

The competition, developed in partnership with the Stroke Association, the AHSN Network and Accelerated Access Collaborative, focused on improving the quality of NHS services in the context of care provided to stroke patients, reducing the prevalence of independent lives lost to stroke by early identification of at-risk groups, and to ensure provision of support which will help patients manage their condition.

POCKiT Diagnostics Ltd has been awarded £99,614 for its point-of-care blood test for the pre-hospital identification of stroke patients suitable for emergency thrombectomy treatment.

The solution is a rapid portable blood test for the detection of patients with severe stroke due to large artery blockage. The test could allow direct ambulance transfer of patients to regional hospitals for significantly faster specialist treatment, thereby reducing disability and costs. Having previously demonstrated 95% accuracy for large vessel occlusion (LVO) detection using laboratory assays, Pockit will now develop the first portable test product. At the end of the project the intention is to take the product for testing in NHS hospitals before commercialisation and distribution.

The AHSN NENC will support Pockit on its market access strategy and the development of its value proposition for the NHS.

For a full list of the projects visit: https://sbrihealthcare.co.uk/news/sbri-healthcare-awards-800k-to-pioneering-innovations-in-the-stroke-and-technology-field/