Thermo Fisher Scientific is working with Owlstone Medical to develop noninvasive breath sample tests in a collaboration that will include the discovery and validation of new biomarkers for the earlier detection of disease.
Based in Cambridge, U.K., Owlstone offers its Breath Biopsy platform and developed the ReCiva breath sampler for collecting "volatile organic compounds" in breath, enabling chemical analysis and an understanding of underlying metabolic processes. The company sees the breathalyzer as being applicable across conditions, but it has focused its research on cancer, inflammatory disease, and infectious disease.
The collaboration will involve the integration of Thermo Fisher's Q Exactive GC Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technology into Owlstone's Breath Biopsy platform. The plan is to make the analyzer a standard part of Owlstone's work, which includes research for pharmaceutical and academic clients. Owlstone is currently working with AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, among other pharmaceutical companies.
Thermo Fisher and Owlstone plan to jointly market the breath testing platform globally.
