Ambri seals deal with Sydney biomed network

Biosensor company Ambri is to set up a clinical trial and research link with Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital as part of a wider deal with the BioMed North group of medical facilities.

The first test site will be aimed at evaluating Ambri's SensiDx platform as a testing vehicle for beta-hCG pregnancy hormone in whole blood samples. The trial will build on initial evaluations started in May, and will be biased towards the production of a commercially viable application of SensiDx.

Ambri COO, Dr Jonathan Wright, said the new extended assessment of the technology was a precursor of full Australian market release (FAMR) due in the next 18 months.

"The major objective of the project will be to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements and it precedes final trials... prior to FAMR due in February 2005," he said.

Wright said this was just the first of a number of liaisons with medical establishments, which he said had enormous potential as collaborators in the development of immuno-diagnostic technologies based on the Ambri platform.

"We will be expanding the scope of our biosensor capability, and looking at the use of novel event markers for use with our immuno-assay expertise," he said. "Australia has a huge resource of experience and clinical expertise just waiting for a platform like ours to make it useable. We have seen similar [diagnostics] based on novel event markers prove extremely successful in the heart failure area, and we can do the same for other events."

"The collaboration between universities and hospitals can offer us a great benefit, and we will be looking at further tie-ups," he added.

Ambri chief scientific officer Dr Bruce Cornell said the tie-up with RNS would also open up potential R&D opportunities that could extend Ambri's technology into new application areas. He described the opportunity to "collaborate with such a world-class clinical research group" as exciting, and added that the access to the necessary equipment and procedures to test and validate products was a boon for the company.

"We also intend to explore other collaborative opportunities with BioMed North in the areas of novel markers and new applications for our technology," he noted.

BioMed North chief executive Deborah Kuchler said the network welcomed the Ambri deal as an opportunity to assess some of the newest Australian medical technology, and said the strength of the tie-up was the blend of industry, academia and public institutions working together.