Funding Awarded to Develop Diagnostic Point-of-Care Device for Sickle Cell Disease

Rockland Immunochemicals, Inc. (Limerick, PA, USA) has announced the award of a USD 224,473 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the NIH National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to develop an antibody-based point-of-care device for the diagnosis of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), a mutation carried in approximately 7% of the world’s population. Rockland secured the award by demonstrating the technology and processes it deploys to develop and to produce leading edge life science tools for basic and clinical research focused on functional genomics and drug discovery markets.

Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is the most common form of SCD, which is the 5th most common genetic disorder in the world. Due to the inability of the deformed red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen in affected individuals, SCD is extremely painful. In addition to early detection helping to reduce the risk of life-threatening infections and increase the odds for survival, diagnosis also enables treatment with pain medication that can ease most symptoms, including abdominal, chest and bone pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, accelerated heart rate, delayed puberty, stunted growth, fever, and leg ulcers.

Currently, there are no simple and cost effective screening tests available that can differentiate patients with the sickle cell trait (HbAS) from sickle cell disease conditions (HbSS, HbSC, and HbS β-thalassemias). “Rockland’s antibody technology platform will help to overcome these barriers tremendously. We will create novel hemoglobin isoform-specific antibodies and configure a lateral flow point-of-care assay,” said Dr. Carl Ascoli, Rockland’s chief science officer, “As a result of this project, the antibody-based lateral flow point-of-care device will allow rapid and inexpensive diagnosis of Sickle Cell Disease in infants and young children in industrialized and low-income and low-resource settings.”

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