A LIMERICK company has signed a partnership with the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences to improve treatment for people suffering ulcerative colitis.
Serosep will work with RSCI researchers to accelerate the development of new tests to help predict disease progression in ulcerative colitis – an inflammatory bowel disease that damages the lining of the gut over time.
The project aims to develop technology to identify ulcerative colitis patients who are likely to progress in their disease, ensuring that they get the most effective care for their disease and sparing them treatments where they are not likely to be of benefit.
The partnership between the RCSI and Serosep is funded by Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Partnership Programme.
Currently ulcerative colitis is managed by medicines called ‘5-ASAs’ (aminosalicylates) and are given to patients with mild to moderate stages of the disease.
As the disease progresses, it is typically managed with steroids, immunosuppressants, and biological drugs.
One of the researchers, Dr Sudipto Das, lecturer and principal investigator at RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, said that “currently there are no biomarkers which allow prediction of disease progression in patients with ulcerative colitis”.
“Having such biomarkers could augment decision-making for clinicians about whether the patient could benefit from an escalation of treatment at an early stage of the disease.”
Dr Das’ team will work with Serosep to validate specific ulcerative colitis biomarkers that the RCSI group has identified in the lab.
The plan is to create a new in-vitro diagnostic solution that can support clinicians as they make decisions about the most suitable treatment for patients based on a panel of biomarkers that can be measured and tracked in samples of their tissue and potentially in the blood as well.
Serosep was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Limerick, with subsidiaries in London and Johannesburg.
The company is focussed on the clinical in-vitro diagnostic market, specifically in infectious disease. It was named Irish Medtech Company of the Year in 2022.
