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AACC panel votes Inflammatix technology most disruptive

September 2019—Inflammatix, a molecular diagnostics company, received the American Association for Clinical Chemistry’s Disruptive Technology Award at the AACC annual meeting in August. The company, in Burlingame, Calif., won for its rapid HostDx tests.

The award was based on Inflammatix’s presentation during the meeting. It was one of three finalists selected to present to a panel of expert judges during a special session.

Dr. Sweeney

“We’re developing rapid tests that read the immune system to improve disease diagnosis and are initially focused on developing tests for acute infections and sepsis, which are two of the biggest public health challenges of our time,” Tim Sweeney, MD, PhD, Inflammatix cofounder and chief executive officer, told CAP TODAY.

The company’s first test, HostDx Sepsis, measures the expression of multiple immune genes to determine rapidly if a patient has a bacterial or viral infection and whether the patient has or is likely to develop sepsis, Dr. Sweeney said. It is intended for use in hospitals, particularly in the ER and ICU, he said, where results will help physicians determine the appropriate treatment and the level of care required. Inflammatix is also developing a HostDx Fever test to help physicians in outpatient settings determine whether patients need antibiotics.

“Our innovation lies in developing tests using advanced bioinformatics to integrate multiple data sets that represent a broad spectrum of disease,” Dr. Sweeney said. “This ensures that the results are accurate and generalizable regardless of infection type or severity, and across patient populations and settings.” The scientific approach, he said, is based on biomarkers licensed exclusively from Stanford University and has been validated in 38 cohorts of more than 2,400 patients.

He and colleagues expect to bring their test system to market in two to three years. “We’ve recruited a world-class team of diagnostic industry veterans to help translate our tests through FDA clearance and into widespread clinical use,” he said, adding that they believe the same approach can “reimagine diagnosis and treatment selection” for tuberculosis, transplant rejection, and autoimmune and other disorders.

The company is funded by Khosla Ventures, Northpond Ventures, the Stanford-StartX Fund, and Think.Health Ventures.