EDX Medical and its partners have completed the development and technical validation of a pioneering rapid pneumonia test for critically ill patients that is now being deployed successfully in NHS clinical practice.
The Ventilator-Acquired Pneumonia test, or ‘VAP’ test, enables rapid and informed changes to antibiotic prescribing and enhancement of clinical care in critically ill patients.
The test, which helps guide treatment by detecting a broad range of viral, fungal and bacterial pathogens in a small sample of fluid drawn from the patient’s lung, is now in service on The John Farman Intensive Care Unit, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. EDX Medical worked in collaboration with its partners to complete development and technical validation of the test.
The test has benefited several critically ill patients since its transition into clinical use last month.
Given the critical condition of these patients, the test results are made available via a secure digital link to authorised ICU clinical staff within a matter of hours. In comparison traditional microbiological assays take several days to generate results.
Hospital acquired pneumonia cases alone cost the NHS an estimated £1.5 billion per year and take almost one million bed days from service. Early precision testing for the microbes that cause pneumonia will likely benefit available ICU resources as well as enhance patient care. Community acquired pneumonia is a common cause of admission to intensive care, and such hospitalised patients are estimated to cost the NHS £731 million per year.
The test was developed and deployed on The John Farman Intensive Care Unit in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and University of Cambridge. EDX Medical, licensed the intellectual property and clinical research data for the VAP test from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), Cambridge University and UKHSA via Cambridge Enterprise in 2025. EDX Medical completed development and technical validation of the test with its partner, the global life sciences company, Thermo Fisher Scientific, EMEA, (Thermo Fisher) and CUH.
CUH and EDX Medical have entered into a four-year service agreement for the Company to provide the assay to CUH.
EDX Medical will, under an existing collaboration with Thermo Fisher, further develop and validate a kit version of the test that can then be provided to other hospitals and laboratories in the UK and Europe, subject to regulatory approval.
Dr Vilas Navapurkar, Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, Cambridge University Hospitals said: “We are absolutely delighted that, after a lot of hard work, this partnership with EDX has delivered a test that is innovative and helpful in the care of critically ill patients on ICU.
“The deployment of this test in our clinical practice is a milestone moment for the ICU here at Addenbrooke’s and has already demonstrated its beneficial impact for a number of patients. It’s a great example of the benefits of new technologies in the NHS.
“We are excited about the prospect of using the VAP test in the unit and supporting the partnership with EDX, to enable its regulatory approval and wider use to improve the care of critically ill ICU patients across the UK and Europe.”
Professor Sir Chris Evans, founder of EDX Medical, said: “This important project has delivered a world class test that has already shown that it can help save lives. We are delighted to have been able to help bring this test to the NHS and will continue our work to obtain regulatory approval so that many more patients can benefit.”
Dr Mike Hudson, CEO of EDX Medical said: “The VAP test is the result of a great collaboration with the experts at Addenbrooke’s and Cambridge University working with our scientists and the resources of Thermo Fisher. We’re delighted to see it now being deployed in the Addenbrooke’s ICU thanks to the support of the hospital leadership and ICU clinical team. We are working to now generate real world data for regulators in order to make the VAP test available more widely as soon as possible and help improve antibiotic custodianship and control of MRSA.”
The development of the test, backed in the early stages by Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) and The Forster Foundation supports the Government’s 10-year strategic plan for the NHS by deploying digital technology to bedside care to treat patients better and earlier. The test, refined on CUH’s John Farman Intensive Care Unit, provides sensitive identification and quantification of the microbes (bacteria, fungi and viruses) that can cause respiratory infections in the critically ill, enabling rapid selection of the most effective treatment.
Improved custodianship of antibiotic use is key to speeding patient recovery and improving patient outcomes – whilst limiting the risk of resistant bacteria emerging in hospitals leading to greater safety risks.
Background
Community acquired pneumonias (CAP) and hospital acquired pneumonias (HAP) are common major life-threatening diseases that require rapid and accurate testing coupled to precision treatment.
NHS England estimates suggest that in England alone each year 72,542 people develop hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), leading to 15,072 deaths and the avoidable loss of 459,755 hospital bed days annually. 83,000 patients are thought to develop CAP every year, with hospitalised cases accounting for 95% of the costs of this condition.
A financial model produced by Manoukian et al in 2021 estimated that in NHS Scotland, the cost of a single HAP case was £13,024. Assuming the cost of a bed day in England is similar, it can be estimated that the annual cost of HAP to NHS England is over £1 billion pa. (£1,073,302,630).
References:
NHS England: Policy-Project Report
Manoukian, S., Stewart, S., Graves, N., et al. (2021). Bed-days and costs associated with the inpatient burden of healthcare-associated infection in the UK. Journal of Hospital Infection, 114, 43-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2020.12.027
Campling J, Wright HF, Hall GC, Mugwagwa T, Vyse A, Mendes D, Slack MPE, Ellsbury GF.(2022) Hospitalisation costs of adult community-acquired pneumonia in England. J Med Econ. 2022 Jan-Dec;25(1):912-918. doi: 10.1080/13696998.2022.2090734.
