The New Frontiers in Research Fund – Transformation Award Will Support World-Leading Innovation in Organ Transplant.
TORONTO, Jan. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - SQI Diagnostics Inc. ("SQI" or the "Company") (TSX-V: SQD) (OTCQB: SQIDF), a precision medicine and diagnostics company focused on respiratory health, congratulates the University Health Network (UHN) for winning one of only seven prestigious "New Frontiers in Research Fund – Transformation" awards.
New Frontiers in Research Fund is a program of the Government of Canada that supports lifesaving, Canadian-made innovations that can be marketed here and around the world. The Transformation stream provides large-scale support for interdisciplinary researchers to expand on areas in which Canada is a global leader.
UHN has created and launched Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) — technology that keeps donor lungs alive outside of the body ("ex vivo"), by delivering heat, oxygen, nutrients and other critical resources before transplant. Before EVLP, up to 80% of donor lungs were discarded because of subjective clinical assessment. Now, use of EVLP has doubled the number of lungs used for transplantation.
UHN and SQI have already developed the TORdxTMLUNG rapid diagnostic test, which gives unprecedented immunological profiling of the donor lung and identifies those best suitable for transplantation. This new award would extend ex vivo technology and help develop new treatments to other organ transplants, together with advances in precision diagnostics.
"Our partnership with UHN on lung transplant is one of our most established and important collaborations, and we congratulate them on this well-deserved award. Led by Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, they're the top lung transplant team in the world," says Andrew Morris, Chief Executive Officer of SQI. "To be recognized and supported by the Government of Canada for this accomplishment – and just as importantly, how we accomplished it through a high-risk, high-reward approach — is incredibly gratifying. I congratulate everyone involved, especially the amazing team at UHN. This funding from New Frontiers is a crucial next step in reaching international markets and expanding ex vivo preservation and therapies beyond lungs to other organs. We join with UHN in expressing our gratitude to the Government of Canada for their visionary leadership."
"We have developed lung perfusion over a series of progressive steps, achieving Health Canada approval and global adoption. SQI has been a vital partner to develop next generation precision medicine diagnostic tools to identify even more donor lungs that are viable for transplant," says Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Surgeon-in-Chief at UHN. "We look forward to working with SQI as our diagnostics partner for our next-level innovations in organ transplantation."
About SQI Diagnostics
SQI Diagnostics is a precision medicine and diagnostics company focussed on respiratory health. The Company's innovative respiratory health and precision medicine tests run on SQI's fully automated systems designed to simplify and improve COVID19 antibody monitoring, Rapid Acute Lung Injury testing, donor organ transplant informatics and immunological protein and antibody testing by increasing throughput, reducing costs and providing excellent data quality. For more information, please visit www.sqidiagnostics.com.
Contact:
Morlan Reddock
Chief Financial Officer
437-235-6563
mreddock@sqidiagnostics.com
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SOURCE SQI Diagnostics Inc.
