Medical wearables firm EnLiSense has received funding from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation IBD Ventures programme. The funding will allow the firm to further develop its non-invasive IBD AWARE product which measures inflammatory biomarkers through sweat present on the skin. IBD AWARE targets biomarkers associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

By detecting levels of IBD biomarkers non-invasively, IBD AWARE opens up the possibility of real-time IBD disease management through wearables.

The IBD AWARE device and sensor rests on a patient’s skin sampling nano-litres of passive sweat and will continuously measure and report biomarkers such as C-Reactive Protein (CRP), Calprotectin, Interleukin-6 (IL6), Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α), Interleukin-1 beta (IL1-β), Cortisol and other biomarkers.

Funding from the IBD Ventures programme will support further clinical studies for the product development and validation with clinicians, David Rubin, MD, of the University of Chicago Medicine and Bruce Sands, MD and Robert Hirten, MD of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. These studies will further the development of a critical diagnostic tool that can help enable research and development of personalised treatment and therapies to improve the quality of life for patients with IBD.

“Minimally invasive and real time monitoring of inflammation is a critical unmet need for patients with IBD,” said Andres Hurtado-Lorenzo Ph.D., Vice President, Translational Research & IBD Ventures at the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. “We are very enthusiastic about supporting EnLiSense clinical studies to further validate their groundbreaking sweat biosensor, following our initial academic investment in this technology via the Foundation’s Novel Technologies Initiative. We are thrilled to see how the synergy of our investments is bridging the gap between academic and industry research to advance novel and highly needed bioengineering-based solutions for IBD patients.”

“We are proud to partner with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and our clinicians on this important endeavour,” said Sriram Muthukumar Ph.D., CEO of EnLiSense CCM.

“IBD AWARE will provide patients and their clinicians with the real-time, actionable data they need to further quality of life outcomes. IBD AWARE biomarkers would be able to identify those individuals at risk for the disease and be disease specific; would be able to detect disease activity and monitor the effect of treatment; and would have a prognostic value towards relapse or recurrence,” Muthukumar concluded.

Since 2017, IBD Ventures has invested in 20 companies and academic institutions to advance new projects. The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation launched IBD Ventures to accelerate the discovery and development of research-based products with the potential to address unmet needs of IBD patients. As a venture philanthropy programme, IBD Ventures aims to advance products through the developmental pathway towards patient care by investing in novel early-stage products. The programme funds, advises, and provides resources to for-profit companies, academic institutions, and other organisations seeking to develop products that can improve remission rates and quality of life for patients with IBD.