(Alliance News) - Genedrive PLC on Thursday said the UK National Institute for Health & Care Excellence has preliminarily recommended its antibiotic hearing loss test, the MT-RNR1 ID kit.
Shares in Genedrive soared 31% to 32.70 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
The Manchester, England-based point-of-care molecular diagnostics company said the kit can now be used by the UK National Health Service, following the evidence review as part of the NICE early value assessment programme.
Genedrive said the specialist NICE EVA committee collected evidence regarding technical, clinical, economic and social impact of the MT-RNR1 ID kit.
The committee concluded MT-RNR1 can "quickly and accurately" identify babies with the primary genetic variant who may be at risk of hearing loss if given aminoglycoside antibiotics, according to Genedrive.
This is alongside addressing a lack of an available test in the NHS which provides results quickly enough to inform decision on antibiotic prescribing in emergency care, alongside long-term savings to the NHS associated with hearing loss and fitting cochlear implants, which "could be substantial".
The committee also said that aminoglycoside-induced hearing loss has a "major negative impact" on the quality of life of children and their families, according to Genedrive.
NICE's final guidance will follow a public consulting period, beginning on Thursday and ending on February 21.
Genedrive said the final recommendations will be the basis for NICE's early value guidance on using MT-RNR1 in NHS England, alongside additional data generation.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
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Genedrive (GDR)