Checking in with our #ThinkBig2020 winners

Back in 2020 Onyx Health challenged the life science industry to #ThinkBig and offered £5000 of our services to an up-and-coming spin-out or SME business. This initiative was conceived to help MedTech companies bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis.

PulmoBioMed was a newly launched Northumbria University spinout, developing an innovative, hand-held breath testing device PBM-Hale™. We worked with Associate Professor Dr Sterghios Moschos and Executive Officer Dr Pete Hotten, to define their target audiences and align their key messages as they prepared for investment.

At the end of 2023 PulmoBioMed closed a successful investment round that raised £1.4m ($1.75m) to commercialise the PBM-Hale™ into the US market. They have completed one successful UK government contract and won several accolades including the 2021 Bionow Investability Competition.

PulmoBioMed’s innovative handheld breath sampling technology offers a fast, non-invasive way to obtain fluid samples from the deep lung without contamination by fluids from the mouth. Traditional sampling devices cannot distinguish between the two, which can give unclear or misleading diagnostic results, while other methods are highly invasive and cannot be performed frequently or suffer contamination from the environment. The technology will be of interest to researchers, Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and pharma companies seeking to identify and stratify patients with a range of lung conditions.

The company initially plans to focus on asthma diagnosis, though the device is suitable for diagnosing other conditions including types of pneumonia. It could also improve outcomes for lung cancer patients by providing a better way to detect returning tumours and identify the best treatments.

In line with our ethos of championing and growing our clients PulmoBioMed are now working with us as they build their corporate visibility, raising awareness of the company and the PBMHale brand as they work with potential partners in the EU USA and Asia.