rHEALTH’s FVIII Point-of-Care Device Awarded $1.5M Direct-to-Phase II Grant from the NIH


We are intent on advancing testing for hemophilia patients, who deserve an easy-to-use technology for managing their condition.

rHEALTH LLC, a Diagnose Yourself, Anywhere (TM) company, today announced that its technology is the subject of the award from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The award is to rHEALTH’s affiliate, the DNA Medicine Institute (DMI), which has granted rHEALTH commercial rights to the technology. The focus of the grant is to further develop the company’s fingerstick-based point-of-care technology for monitoring both FVIII and emicizumab. rHEALTH’s solution takes a tiny blood sample and provides a result in 15 minutes for a patient or medical provider via its app-driven, Bluetooth-connected interface. Conventional central lab FVIII testing require large machines and is difficult to perform. Because of this, hemophilia is greatly underdiagnosed in many countries around the world. Lack of proper testing instruments and materials make both diagnosis and management of bleeding episodes and surgeries very challenging.

Two distinguished collaborators, the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) and Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) are part of the effort. WFH is an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with genetic bleeding disorders. They will work with rHEALTH to plan field-based studies of the device in the developing world. BCH is the US News & World Report’s #1 pediatric hospital in the US and routinely treats hemophilia A patients. Their interest is to benchmark the performance of the device against its lab analyzers and to provide more accessible testing for its patients.

“The rHEALTH point-of-care technology has the potential to impact the diagnosis and monitoring of hemophilia A worldwide,” said Alain Baumann, CEO of WFH. “An easy-to-use approach for monitoring FVIII and emicizumab will improve patient care through widening availability of testing, which is today complex and hospital-based,” said Glenn Pierce MD PhD, VP of Medical of WFH.

“We are intent on advancing testing for hemophilia patients, who deserve an easy-to-use technology for managing their condition,” said Eugene Chan MD, CEO of rHEALTH. The rHEALTH device is an award-winning, patented technology. For FVIII measurements, it utilizes the chemistry in rHEALTH’s CE-marked two-stage fluorogenic assay to provide highly accurate results from < 1% to 200% levels.

About rHEALTH®

rHEALTH is a company focused on the development and commercialization of its Diagnose Yourself, Anywhere (TM) technology. The rHEALTH blood sensor is the subject of multiple XPRIZE awards, a NASA effort for astronaut health monitoring, and over a dozen issued patents. It enables diverse laboratory tests from a single tiny blood sample. For more information, visit http://www.rhealth.com.

About DNA Medicine Institute

DNA Medicine Institute (DMI) is a biomedical incubator focused on advancing patient care, alleviating human suffering, and treating disease through innovation. Its technology is subject of work funded by NASA, National Institutes of Health, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. DMI leverages substantial expertise in interdisciplinary science and engineering to solve challenging problems. For more information, visit http://www.dnamedinstitute.com.

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