**The below press release is copied from the DRIVe website of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services – original post can be found in a dialog window here). DRIVe is pleased to announce it is partnering with Cytovale, Inc. of San Francisco to develop new technology to diagnose sepsis in under 10 minutes. Using a simple blood test, Cytovale’s technology is intended to measure physical changes in immune cells that occur when someone is sick to indicate whether a patient has sepsis.

Support for the project is part of DRIVe’s ambitious Solving Sepsis initiative to accelerate the development of products that have potential to revolutionize the way sepsis is diagnosed and treated. Sepsis kills an estimated 270,000 Americans each year, with a health care cost of over $24 billion annually. Sepsis occurs when an infection or other insult to the body produces a disregulated immune response in a patient, which can cause serious tissue damage, organ failure, and even death. The disease is difficult to diagnose, and with current laboratory testing, can take a long time - sometimes days - to confirm. Cytovale’s low-cost diagnostic holds the potential to provide the quick information emergency room healthcare providers need in the critical first hours and days of this often-deadly disease.

The Cytovale technology takes advantage of advances in microfluidics, ultra-high speed imaging, computer vision, and machine learning to rapidly quantify immune cell dysregulation from a blood sample in minutes. It uses deformability cytometry to measure immune cell changes, like inflammation and other changes that occur when a person is getting sick. DRIVe’s Solving Sepsis initiative supports innovative technologies to prevent and reduce sepsis incidence, morbidity, and mortality. Sepsis is already a major public health threat, and it could pose an even bigger health security threat in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack or incident, or as a complication from influenza or other infectious diseases.

DRIVe and Cytovale are committed to a public-private partnership, with DRIVe contributing $749,000 of the total $1.397 million project cost. Cytovale will cover the remaining development costs for this phase of development as a part of a cost share. DRIVe is transforming the speed in which government partners with industry. To streamline funding, DRIVe implemented a new business-friendly EZ-BAA application process enabling this award to be made in less than two months (55 days from submission to award).

ABOUT CYTOVALE

Cytovale is a venture backed, clinical-stage medical diagnostics company developing a novel platform that rapidly interrogates thousands of single cells to quantify the mechanical signatures of disease. The company’s lead product is focused on early sepsis detection in the Emergency Department setting to dramatically improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. With promising data in multiple studies across hundreds of patients, the system is currently under development with FDA clearance studies planned in the near future. Cytovale’s investors include Breakout Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures & other major healthcare oriented technology investors. For more information contact info@cytovale.com or visit Cytovale.com.