Medical technology firm MediSieve is highlighting its work for World Malaria Day placing emphasis on its magnetic blood filter device.
Most efforts focus on prevention, such as vaccines and bed-nets, rather than new treatments and stopping death. While these measures play a vital role in moving towards malaria eradication, MediSieve is using World Malaria Day to underline the importance of investing resources into new, potentially life-saving treatments.
MediSieve’s magnetic blood filter, which works in a similar way to dialysis, takes out infected red blood cells from the bloodstream directly, reducing parasitaemia.
Blood is passed through a strong magnetic filter which captures the infected cells. The remainder of the blood can then be returned to the infected patient.
The device comprises:
- A disposable, sterile filter
- A magnet in which the filter is placed, and which can be reused
- Conventional blood pumps and loops
It's aimed at severe malaria patients receiving IV treatment who are in hospital – some six million people are in this situation globally.
If the filter from MediSieve is used in a one-off session with the first round of IV medication, it could bring down mortality rates, speed up symptom reduction and stop the disease from escalating.
At the same time, fewer IV drugs are needed, and hospital time is reduced, leading to cost savings.
Dr George Frodsham, CEO and founder of MediSieve said: “Early results suggest we could reduce parasitaemia in a child by more than 90% in just two hours.
“We aim to launch in 2021. The first clinical trials are planned for the middle of the year, ahead of Phase two trials in malarial countries where we could have the most impact.
“Our message to the community is to not neglect the importance of continuing to develop new treatments for malaria, particularly because of the continuing emergence of drug-resistant malaria, which threatens to undo a lot of the progress that has been made in recent years.
“Malaria treatment is our flagship product because the infected cells have naturally occurring magnetic properties, and because we really feel we can have a material human impact to help those suffering the most from the disease, particularly children and pregnant women.
“If we can physically and rapidly remove infected red blood cells from a malaria patient’s bloodstream, we can significantly increase their chances of survival. There’s a strong link between parasitaemia (the percentage of red blood cells that are infected), mortality and disease severity, and the faster you achieve complete clearance of infected cells, the better the prognosis for the patient.”
