SciBase Announces Skin Barrier Testing Collaboration With Leading Swiss Research Center
STOCKHOLM, Dec. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SciBase and Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research, Davos Switzerland (SIAF-SFI) announced today the signing of a formal collaboration agreement within the area of barrier function testing using Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). In addition the partners have jointly filed a patent application covering the use of electrical impedance testing for the evaluation of epithelial barrier function, potentially a unique tool to help address some of the most common disorders such as eczema, food allergy, allergic rhinitis and asthma.
The agreement formalises a research co-operation project that has been ongoing over a period of nearly three years. That co-operation recently resulted in the submission of an animal study research paper to a leading scientific journal which outlines the use and potential of EIS in skin barrier evaluation.
The research has applied SciBase's Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) system Nevisense, to a new clinical area, barrier-related disorders. By utilizing EIS to test the skin's 'barrier function', a clearer understanding of the status of the skin is available quickly and easily, even if no clinical signs are present. This improves the clinician's ability to diagnose, manage and treat diseases like atopic dermatitis or eczema. Atopic dermatitis is extremely common, affecting up to 20% of children, and 2-10% of adults. This, if the clinical data shows positive results, could result in products that open up a large new market for SciBase addressing an unmet medical need. It could also open up opportunities to partner with therapy companies in this space. A research version to measure barrier is already available and we intend to work to release further product versions during 2019.
"Epithelial barrier defects are becoming more and more prominent in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases of the skin and mucosa and quantitative measurement of barrier integrity at the point of care is essential. I am very happy that we are going into a co-development agreement with SciBase for efficient barrier detection for prevention and treatment strategies of allergic skin diseases and further on other barrier- related diseases", says Professor Cezmi Akdis, MD, Director SIAF.
"Our collaboration with Prof. Akdis and SIAF-SFI is the foundation of the work we do within this exciting new application for EIS. Scientific interest in barrier function as a central factor in atopic dermatitis continues to grow. There are also several disorders such as food allergy and asthma that are related to atopic dermatitis and the barrier. The ability to understand barrier function could therefore improve our ability to manage these and other very common disorders and this opens up a number of research and commercial opportunities", says Simon Grant, CEO of SciBase.
For more information, please contact:
Simon Grant, CEO SciBase
Tel: +46-72-887-43-99
Email: simon.grant@scibase.com
About SciBase and Nevisense
SciBase AB is a Swedish medical technology company, headquartered in Stockholm that has developed a unique point-of-care device for the accurate detection of malignant melanoma. Its first product, Nevisense, helps doctors to detect malignant melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. SciBase was founded by Stig Ollmar, Associate Professor at The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Nevisense is based on substantial research and has achieved excellent results in the largest clinical study ever conducted on the detection of malignant melanoma. Nevisense is CE marked in Europe, has TGA approval in Australia and a FDA clearance in the United States. Nevisense is based on a method called Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), which uses the varying electrical properties of human tissue to categorize cellular structures and thereby detect malignancies and abnormalities. SciBase is listed on Nasdaq First North ("SCIB"). Avanza is the certified advisor. Further information is available at www.scibase.com.
About SIAF-SFI
The Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) is a department of the foundation Swiss Research Institutes for High Altitude Climate and Medicine Davos (SFI), an affiliated institute of the University of Zurich, and member of the Life Science Zurich Graduate School. SIAF members play leading roles in national and international organizations, such as European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and in editorial boards and editorships of top Journals in the field of allergy asthma and clinical immunology. At the same time, SIAF fulfills teaching obligations in the University of Zurich. The research activities at SIAF are focused on patient-relevant translational research and the investigation of the immunological principles in the field of skin atopic dermatitis, allergies and asthma to develop approaches for new preventive and curative treatments for patients. SIAF also promotes personalized medicine to develop treatment approaches that are better tailored to the needs of individual patients. These personalized medicine research activities are expected to not only help to find tailor-made therapies but also to develop more precise diagnosis. The continuously growing SIAF is one of the most cited and leading institutes in its area worldwide with more than 50,000 citations and 1,000 original research articles in the last 20 years. SIAF organizes the internationally renowned World Immune Regulation Meeting (WIRM) in Davos every year. Further information is available at www.siaf.uzh.ch
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