“This impact of this funding will be potentially game-changing. Ways to diagnose onset of deterioration in COPD are urgently warranted. With a non-invasive test like a breath test, this could mean that in the future patients living with COPD will be able to safely monitor their condition without the need for a trip to hospital. As the clinical partner for this project, we look forward to the advancements this funding will allow our research to achieve for COPD patients in the future.”
Professor Mona Bafadhel, Chair of Respiratory Medicine and Director of the King’s Centre for Lung Health
15 November 2023
European Innovation Council awards £3.8 million funding to accelerate COPD technology
A healthcare research consortium including King’s Centre for Lung Health, has been awarded four million euros (£3.8 million) funding by the European Innovation Council to accelerate the development of diagnostics technology for patients living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
COPD is a lung disease that affects nearly 400 million people around the world and ranks as the third leading cause of death worldwide. Improving patient care across Europe is at the heart of the European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Challenge, which challenges groups to develop systems and technologies that will try to achieve this.
As the clinical partner in this project, Professor Mona Bafadhel, Chair of Respiratory Medicine and Director of the King’s Centre for Lung Health, was involved in this research, in addition to the RespiQ, a Dutch healthtech company, National eHealth Living Lab within the Leiden University Medical Centre, the Norwegian research organisation Sintef, and the Portuguese technical consulting and research company, uRoboptics.
The consortium will receive the funding over the next three and a half years and will allow the company to accelerate the development and miniaturisation of RespiQ’s breath diagnostics technology, enhancing non-invasive remote patient monitoring. The company’s mission is to improve the well-being of COPD patients by building a sensor device for real-time, at home patient monitoring. The device will offer an early warning system for impending lung attacks, with the potential to transform COPD patient care.
Mira Gleisberg, CEO of RespiQ, added: “Receiving the EIC Pathfinder grant marks a significant milestone for our company and consortium, as it enables us to accelerate the development of our cutting-edge breath diagnostics device, bringing hope to thousands of COPD patients struggling to monitor their disease."
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Chair of Respiratory Medicine