Mar 7, 2019
MediSieve Raises Awareness Ahead of World Malaria Day
MediSieve is highlighting its work for World Malaria Day on April 25 - as figures show 435,000 people died from the disease in 2017.
Established in 2007, the yearly event celebrates efforts worldwide to control malaria. It’s marked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partner organisations. Most efforts focus on prevention, such as vaccines and bed-nets, rather than new treatments and stopping death. While these measures play a vital role in moving towards malaria eradication, MediSieve is using World Malaria Day to underline the importance of investing resources into new, potentially life-saving treatments.
MediSieve's CEO and founder, Dr George Frodsham, said: “The statistics make for grim reading, with cases increasing over the past year for the first time in a decade, which is why we’re keen to support World Malaria Day and raise awareness of the fight against this dreadful disease. Our message to the community is to not neglect the importance of continuing to develop new treatments for malaria, particularly because of the continuing emergence of drug-resistant malaria, which threatens to undo a lot of the progress that has been made in recent years.
“Malaria treatment is our flagship product because the infected cells have naturally occurring magnetic properties, and because we really feel we can have a material human impact to help those suffering the most from the disease, particularly children and pregnant women.”
Dr Frodsham added: “If we can physically and rapidly remove infected red blood cells from a malaria patient’s bloodstream, we can significantly increase their chances of survival. There’s a strong link between parasitaemia (the percentage of red blood cells that are infected), mortality and disease severity, and the faster you achieve complete clearance of infected cells, the better the prognosis for the patient.”
It's aimed at severe malaria patients receiving IV treatment who are in hospital – some six million people are in this situation globally. If the filter from MediSieve is used in a one-off session with the first round of IV medication, it could bring down mortality rates, speed up symptom reduction and stop the disease from escalating. At the same time, fewer IV drugs are needed, and hospital time is reduced, leading to cost savings.
In 2017, malaria affected 219 million people in 90 countries worldwide. The WHO African Region had 92% of malaria cases in 2017, and a similar number of the deaths from this disease.
About Magnetic Blood Filtration
MediSieve's Magnetic Blood Filtration Platform is intended to enable the rapid and specific depletion of specific agents from the bloodstream of patients. The extracorporeal therapy uses therapeutic Magnetic Beads that are designed to bind specifically to the clinical target. The Beads are introduced into the extracorporeal circuit during the therapy, mixing with the patient’s blood and binding to the clinical targets. The Delivery Platform captures all the Magnetic Beads and bound targets, preventing their return to the patient.
About MediSieve
MediSieve is a London-based BioTech start-up that has developed Magnetic Blood Filtration, a revolutionary platform therapy that enables the physical removal of specific substances from the bloodstream of patients. It can be used (1) as a direct treatment, (2) to increase the safety and efficacy of other therapies, or (3) to enable personalised medicine. The company is a spin-off from University College London and is developing its products at the White City Innovation District in West London. MediSieve is actively seeking investment and partnerships.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Alina Kagermazova
INVESTOR AND PARTNERSHIP CONTACT:
George Frodsham
