POCKiT Diagnostics is a startup supported by Santander through Cambridge Judge Business School’s Entrepreneurship Centre. The team is developing a device, the Life Test, which swiftly and accurately diagnoses what kind of stroke a patient has suffered, so that effective treatment can be administered.
Brain stroke is a global problem. There are 16 million cases worldwide and 100,000 cases in the UK every year. Currently, one third of those who experience a stroke die, and more than 90 per cent of survivors will have a disability. The sooner a person receives treatment for a stroke, the less damage is likely to be caused, so speed of diagnosis is critical.
POCKiT Diagnostics produce a fast and accurate blood test for stroke. The startup’s innovation is the application of rapid detection of stroke-specific biomarkers to provide a diagnosis of stroke in less than 20 minutes. This allows specific treatment to be delivered earlier by getting the patient to the correct hospital or ward more quickly, with the potential to dramatically reduce stroke-induced disability and mortality.
Through the Entrepreneurship Centre’s Accelerate Cambridge programme, founders Gonzalo Ladreda, Edoardo Gaude and Marcos Ladreda have benefited from mentoring and networking opportunities, meeting and learning from longer-established medtech companies and practising their pitch. This has helped them to win prestigious funding which will allow them to test and refine the biotechnology they are using, complete clinical trials, and eventually roll the Life Test out for widespread use in emergency medical services.
Having been awarded the runners up prize at Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards 2018 final, POCKiT Diagnostics are working to develop their simple, portable and affordable device, with the aim of saving lives and improving outcomes for even more stroke sufferers through earlier diagnosis.