Original from: 360dx

Roche on Wednesday announced that it is partnering with the US Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Burn and Blast Medical Countermeasures Program to develop diagnostics for traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

The partners will explore the development of tools that could help diagnose TBIs and monitor secondary event development in TBI patients, as well as a rule-out test for the need for head CT scans in mild TBI patients, Roche said in a statement.

The goal of the collaboration is to bring to market a blood-based test that could be used to help healthcare professionals quickly stratify patients with TBIs to perform further interventions early and help predict outcomes and monitor treatment effects, Roche added. 

The firm noted that neuroimaging is currently the main diagnostic tool for TBIs but added that it is relatively expensive and there may be limited access to neuroimaging during a mass casualty event. It is also not sensitive enough to diagnose all types of TBIs and predict the outcomes, making it difficult to stratify patients with milder TBIs, Roche said.

"Our goal is to drive meaningful advancements in healthcare, ultimately enhancing patient care, outcomes and access," Olivier Gillieron, Roche Diagnostics' life cycle leader for cardiometabolic and neurology, said in a statement. "This partnership underscores our commitment to advancing medical diagnostics and addressing critical healthcare challenges such as scalable and accurate testing for traumatic brain injuries."

Source: Roche, BARDA Partner to Develop Diagnostics for Traumatic Brain Injuries