RNS1 Mar 2021 07:03
01/03/2021 7:00am
UK Regulatory (RNS & others)
Braveheart Investment (LSE:BRH)
Intraday Stock Chart
Monday 1 March 2021
Click Here for more Braveheart Investment Charts.
TIDMBRH
RNS Number : 6077Q
Braveheart Investment Group plc
01 March 2021
1 March 2021
Braveheart Investment Group plc
("Braveheart" or the "Group")
Further update re Paraytec Limited
Further to the announcements on 29 January 2021, Braveheart Investment Group plc (AIM: BRH), is pleased to provide an update concerning progress to develop a COVID-19 test that Paraytec Limited ("Paraytec" or the "Company") is working on in conjunction with the University of Sheffield.
Testing of the first 500 samples being provided by Sheffield Hospitals Trust has been a key focus of the Paraytec team's work in the last month. The clinical sample pipeline is now fully operational.
Samples are being processed and subjected to analysis using Paraytec's photonics-based detection system. The average time to acquire test results is currently less than 120 seconds, a market-leading value. The laboratory trials data confirm the performance of Paraytec's photonics-based test in identifying patients with an infectious viral load within the acceptable range specified by MHRA.
The current gold standard for estimation of viral load continues to be laboratory-based PCR tests. However, these detect viral RNA levels and not necessarily the presence of infectious virions, which means that many patients test positive, long after they are no longer infectious. Paraytec has thus adopted an additional comparator test developed by the University of Sheffield, to verify the presence of intact virus particles. This involves ultracentrifugation and high-resolution fluorescence microscopy to independently verify the presence of virions in clinical samples.
In parallel to the sample processing described above, the Paraytec team has been using isolated lab-grown virus to optimise the operational sensitivity of its instrument for the detection of pre-symptomatic and early-stage symptomatic virus levels. It believes it will be able to confirm, within a period of four weeks, a lower limit of detection of 1,000 virions per millilitre of sample, also a market-leading value.
Paraytec will complete additional analysis of samples in the clinical pipeline in order to acquire robust statistical data and prepare the detailed technical specification required by regulators and producers. The team believes that the high speed and high sensitivity of its test may enable the undertaking of multiplexed "matrix" testing. Matrix testing combines samples from multiple people for simultaneous analysis, such that 20 parallel tests can yield individual results for up to one hundred people. Such a test would be very helpful to the successful operation of large events, like sports or music festivals.
Paraytec will now progress to a prospective clinical validation with a larger number of patient sa