Pfizer has bought a Brisbane-based company that has created a smartphone app that says COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses can be diagnosed by listening to a person coughing, for nearly $180 million.
the main points:
- Recent studies have shown that the application has a success rate of up to 92% in diagnosing the virus
- Pfizer offered to buy ResApp earlier this year
- The developer says he hopes the acquisition will help people around the world
ResApp Health Limited uses diagnostic technology developed by Associate Professor Udantha Abeyratne and his research team at the University of Queensland (UQ) to record and analyze a patient’s cough on a smartphone.
The app also considers self-reporting of minor symptoms such as a runny nose or fever to diagnose and measure the severity of a range of lung diseases, including asthma and pneumonia.
Pfizer, one of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical companies, offered to buy ResApp earlier this year when the company announced positive results for a COVID-19 screening test.
Recent studies have shown that the app has a 92% success rate in diagnosing the virus among symptomatic patients, but more clinical trials are needed for it to gain regulatory approval.
University of Queensland Vice President Professor Deborah Terry said the $179 million acquisition, which was completed on Monday, was a “fantastic” outcome for the company and associated researchers.
“The value of translating research into new point-of-care diagnoses to improve healthcare on a global scale cannot be underestimated,” Professor Terry said.
University of Queensland commercial company UniQuest licensed the technology to ResApp in September 2014.
“Information superhighway”
The research that led to the breakthrough began more than a decade ago with funding from a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said Dr. Aperatne, from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.
“When I open my lungs, I open my airways, this is what I call the ‘superhighway of information,’ so I wondered if cough sounds, advanced signal processing and AI technology could be used to select features,” he said. .
“From the beginning, I had a great vision of developing scalable and cheap techniques for diagnosing lung diseases around the world – not just in sub-Saharan Africa, but even in developed urban cities like New York and Brisbane.”
Dr. Aperatne said the smartphone technology, which was developed in consultation with medical practitioners, works similarly to a doctor using a stethoscope to listen for sounds made by a patient’s body.
“The diagnosis comes right away, within a minute or so, to tell the patient if they have a certain disease, using only their smartphone – and nothing else – and there’s no need for a network connection either,” he said.
Dr Abeyratne said he hopes that Pfizer’s acquisition of ResApp will help realize his dream of helping people around the world.
“I hope they can diagnose deadly diseases like pneumonia in very remote communities in Africa and Asia because they don’t have access to sophisticated hospitals,” he said.
He said the technology could also benefit GP clinics and hospitals in developed countries by speeding up the screening process and preventing costly hospital admissions.
“It can be used in telehealth services, so patients do not have to visit the doctor in person. The doctor can make the diagnosis using the app on their smartphone first.
“In a pandemic or disaster zone, respiratory illnesses come quickly. So the technology can be used at airports or in areas affected by hurricanes and floods.”
Dr. Aperatne said the app can also be used to monitor and manage chronic diseases such as asthma from home.
“I think in the future, with more resources, more can be done,” he said.
“There are many other applications…there are other skills, techniques, and tools that can be added [to the diagnostic technology] at low cost.”
UniQuest CEO Dean Moss said he watched ResApp’s growth “with interest.”
“This is one of the most exciting Australian biotechnology deals to come out of university research,” said Dr Moss.
“It is rewarding that the company’s technological breakthroughs have attracted such significant international support.”
Pfizer has been contacted for comment.
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