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A magnetic filter to remove pathogens from the bloodstream

Medisieve received NIHR i4i Connect funding to perform first in man clinical trials of their magnetic blood filter.

Published: 15 July 2019

Magnetic blood filtration

MediSieve is developing ‘magnetic blood filtration’, a revolutionary method for removing specific pathogens directly from the bloodstream.

Practically anything can be removed, providing a platform technology to treat a huge range of blood-borne medical conditions.

The company’s initial focus is on sepsis, malaria and leukaemia.

Current blood cleaning methods

Many of the most serious diseases are, to some degree, blood-borne. Existing methods of 'cleaning' blood are non-specific.

With incidence and mortality in many of these diseases increasing, there is a need for better treatments. For example, the estimated total addressable markets for sepsis, malaria and leukaemia are £1.8 billion, £150 million and £780 million respectively.

How magnetic blood filtration works

Magnetic blood filtration is able to remove disease-causing components directly from a patient’s bloodstream, with high specificity and speed.

The technology works in a similar way to dialysis; a patient’s blood is circulated through an extracorporeal loop to remove specific pathogens.

Target-specific antibody coated magnetic particles (Ab-MPs) are infused into the loop, binding with desired targets before being captured in the MediSieve Filter, without the Ab-MPs entering the body.

The main advantage of magnetic blood filtration is that targets are specifically removed rather than killed. It can be used alongside drugs, making them more effective and less harmful.

MBF can bring clinical benefits including:

  • symptom elimination
  • accelerated recovery
  • reduced side-effects
  • prevention of disease escalation
  • lower mortality

Medisieve and the NIHR

Medisieve received NIHR i4i Connect funding to perform the first in-human clinical trials of their magnetic blood filter.

Dr George Frodsham, CEO of MediSieve said: “The NIHR i4i Connect grant has been instrumental in helping us to prepare for our first -in-man clinical study. The support of the NIHR in obtaining approval for our clinical trial has been invaluable. Being part of the i4i Connect scheme also helped to set up and formalise a partnership with an NHS clinical site. Thanks to i4i, we are currently much further down the road than we would otherwise be.”

Find out more about how the NIHR can support organisations in our industry section.

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