Owlstone Medical wins up to $49.1M ARPA-H award to pioneer breath-based cancer detection

UK medtech Owlstone Medical has won an award of up to $49.1 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) for the Platform Optimising SynBio for Early Intervention and Detection in Oncology (POSEIDON https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/programs/poseidon program. 

Owlstone Medical is developing a breathalyser for disease, with the goal of improving non-invasive diagnostics for conditions such as respiratory and liver diseases, cancer, and digestive health disorders. 

The company aims to save 100,000 lives and reduce healthcare costs by $1.5 billion through earlier detection and more precise treatment.  Its Breath Biopsy®platform represents a new diagnostic modality designed to identify novel, non-invasive biomarkers in breath, with the potential to be deployed at the point of care.

At the heart of this approach is the award-winning ReCIVA®Breath Sampler, which enables the reliable collection of breath samples. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) captured in these samples are then analysed using advanced chemical analysis technologies. 

Owlstone Medical aims to further develop tools, potentially leveraging its proven FAIMS microchip chemical sensor technology, to detect validated biomarkers of disease and enable earlier, more accurate diagnosis.

The POSEIDON program aims to develop first-in-class synthetic-sensor-based Multi-Cancer-Early Detection (MCED) tests for Stage I detection of 30+ solid tumours using only breath and urine samples that can be performed in the home and are available over the counter.

Owlstone’s project, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Qurin B.V., and Planned Systems International Inc, aims to overcome this challenge by delivering accurate, low-cost cancer screening for 30+ solid tumours to Americans aged 18 and older.

The project involves the inhalation of a mix of pan-cancer and tumour-specific synthetic sensors from a single-use inhaler, which then circulate throughout the body and accumulate on the surface of cancer cells. The reporters produced by the sensors are either DNA-based, which act as a readable barcode, or a set of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), supporting the detection of 36 cancers in total. These will be collected at home or in the clinic in urine samples and from breath, respectively, using portable collection and analysis devices.  

Results will be uploadable in real-time to electronic health records (EHR) for rapid review by healthcare professionals, integrating seamlessly into clinical practice and digitally enabled care.

This unique approach offers significant advantages over competing technologies. These include boosting the signal to enhance test performance such that cancer is reliably detectable from early stage, enabling simple and non-invasive sample collection at home, rapid result generation and EHR integration, and a low-cost manufacturing model such that economics are not a barrier to adoption of the technology as the new standard of care for early cancer detection.

According to Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, access to an accurate and low-cost MCED test that does not require a doctor’s visit or laboratory testing is key to preventing late-stage diagnoses. 

“This award validates both breath as a diagnostic approach and Owlstone’s EVOC® probes as a reporter technology to overcome the shortcomings and challenges that have held back early cancer detection previously. 

We are grateful to ARPA-H for the opportunity to bring transformative MCED testing to every American within the next decade.”