04 October 2022 | News
One of the most exciting Australian biotech deals to come out of university research
image credit- ResApp Health
US-based Pfizer has acquired University of Queensland (UQ) startup ResApp Health Limited for $179 million. ResApp, an ASX-listed company based in Brisbane, has developed simple and inexpensive smartphone technology that can accurately identify respiratory diseases based on cough analysis.
UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry said, “The value of translating research into new point of care diagnostics to improve healthcare on a global scale cannot be understated."
UQ’s commercialisation company UniQuest licensed the UQ technology to ResApp in September 2014.
The technology records a patient’s cough on a smartphone and analyses sounds and simple symptoms, such as a runny nose, to diagnose and measure the severity of a range of chronic and acute diseases. They include asthma, pneumonia, bronchiolitis, croup and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
ResApp recently announced positive results for its COVID-19 screening test.
Clinical trials are continuing and the company said if successful the technology could potentially reduce the number of PCR and rapid antigen tests used worldwide.
ResAppDx is CE Marked in the European Union and TGA approved in Australia.