MBio Diagnostics announced delivery to the U.S. Department of Defense with funding for this effort provided by the Defense Health Program through the Joint Program Executive Office as part of a development program for a rapid, quantitative point-of-care test for the inflammatory protein interleukin-6 (IL-6), one participant in the overactive immune response, or cytokine storm, that causes organ damage and fatality from COVID-19. The IL-6 test will be used by researchers from The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. (HJF) in studies involving COVID-19 patients. Drugs that affect IL-6 binding to cell receptors have been shown to be an effective treatment option for some critically ill COVID-19 patients. The research will use the IL-6 test from MBio to classify patients based on their serum IL-6 levels, and use this information to potentially improve treatment efficacy and patient outcomes.
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IL-6 plays an important role in inflammation and fever associated with infection. There is increasing medical evidence that in many severe COVID-19 patients, the immune system overreacts, creating what some call a cytokine storm that can cause systemic organ failure and death. The MBio IL-6 test may quickly help clinicians understand which patients are in gravest danger and may require different drugs or other therapeutic interventions.
"We are pleased that our prior work in developing host-response diagnostic tests can now be applied in important clinical studies during the COVID-19 crisis. We will continue product development on our panels, with a goal of submitting data for in vitro diagnostic clearance by the FDA," Chris Myatt, Ph.D., chief executive officer at MBio said.