Collaboration will explore use of Breath Biopsy to identify novel biomarkers to enable personalized medicine applications

Owlstone Medical, a diagnostics company developing a breathalyzer for disease, has announced it has signed a service agreement with AstraZeneca plc (LON: AZN), a global biopharmaceutical company. The collaboration will explore how breath can be used to identify novel biomarkers to help differentiate between disease phenotypes relevant for asthma and COPD.

Owlstone Medical will provide AstraZeneca with access to its Breath Biopsy Services including development of classification algorithms to identify breath biomarkers for precision medicine applications across asthma and COPD. By identifying disease phenotypes and treatable traits, the underlying heterogeneity of obstructive lung diseases can be explored, with the potential to enable the right treatment to be given to the right patient at the right time. Breath Biopsy offers a rapid, non-invasive approach to identify breath-based biomarkers that could help to stratify and monitor patients so that they receive the right therapy at the optimum dosage.

Chronic respiratory disease, including asthma and COPD, is a substantial heath and economic burden globally often causing reduced quality of life and premature death for sufferers. An estimated 334 million people worldwide have asthma1 and 251 million suffer from COPD2.

Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, said: “This agreement with AstraZeneca demonstrates our unrivalled expertise in breath biomarkers. Through our Breath Biopsy Services we are well positioned to assist the AstraZeneca team to explore how Breath Biopsy can identify novel biomarkers for asthma and COPD and to optimize their application in precision medicine.”