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29
July 2024
Gastroenterology Today Feature: How can capsule sponge testing support staff retention and boost endoscopy capacity?
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The Summer edition of Gastroenterology Today features two articles that demonstrate how capsule sponge testing can improve the clinical capacity of endoscopy teams.

Read the summary below or see the full publication on the Gastroenterology Today website.

Leicester Case Study

The Challenge

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) has transformed patient access to diagnostics for Barrett’s oesophagus through the roll out of a nurse-led capsule sponge testing pathway. Implementing capsule sponge testing has allowed them to cut gastroscopy waiting times, improve clinical capacity and deliver a better experience for both patients and clinical staff.

The team at UHL had an ambition to reduce wait times and improve survival chances for a lesser-known group of patients with Barrett’s oesophagus that affects around 1 million adults in Britain. However, the team were facing all-time high waits for gastroscopy and saturated 2-week wait pathways, placing these patients at increased risk of late diagnosis.

● Average patient wait time for this group: 6-12 months

● Number of staff able to perform the initial diagnostic test: 1

● Number of locations the initial diagnostic test was available from: 1

The Solution

Testing was undertaken by a range of clinical professionals from nurses to consultants – widening the possible delivery of the service - which provided the potential to reduce the wait associated with traditional endoscopist-led endoscopy procedures. The team also improved their triaging process for the test, adding electronic forms to improve the speed and accuracy of patient selection. Capsule sponge testing offered the opportunity for nurses to be upskilled, providing improved career pathways which the team felt would strengthen both their attraction and retention. By improving their capacity to deliver the service, and upskilling their team, the Trust was able to create a nurse-led clinic that could see more Barrett’s patients, more quickly.

“What started as two nurses with an idea has become a key part of our pathway and now my full time job! The training opportunity alone has helped position ourselves as an innovative service that people are excited to join. Our staff retention has improved and we’re already hiring for more as we plan to roll out capsule sponge testing for other patient groups, and look to GP referrals to reach even more people. Our vision is that in time, all patients for Barrett’s surveillance and investigation for GORD will be offered capsule sponge testing as a first line diagnostic procedure.” Vanessa deVivian, Capsule Sponge Lead Nurse Specialist

Key Findings

● 20 week reduction in patient waiting times.

● Increased capacity, with 3 staff able to perform the test. One dedicated full-time nurse and two other part-time.

● Testing now available to more sites across the Trust and expanding into community care.

● The early detection of Barrett’s oesophagus has helped to prevent the occurrence of oesophageal cancers.

● Positive impact on staff retention and acquisition, with colleagues expressing how valued they feel.

● Cost reduction of around 50% compared with gastroscopy, due to the different skill mix, setting and product.

The Trust’s nurse-led model demonstrates a clear way for other services to reduce the pressure on endoscopy teams, while still offering exciting training opportunities and autonomy to those that want to innovate. By expanding the deliverability of the testing, UHL is leading the way in developing cost-effective, nurse-led services that can provide better access, experience, and outcomes for patients.

For further details, or to discuss how Cyted Health can support your service in creating a capsule sponge pathway, please get in touch.

Managed Service Support

For Trusts that want to take advantage of the capacity boost that capsule sponge offers, but need extra workforce support, managed services company Xyla has put forward an example patient pathway featuring their insourced.

Read the full article here.

11
April 2024
Cyted Health Appoints Betsy Hanna US President
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Cyted Health today announces the appointment of Betsy Hanna as US President, where she will lead the company’s expansion into the US market. Betsy joins the company at a pivotal time, following FDA clearance for Cyted Health’s EndoSign® device earlier this year.

Betsy brings more than 20 years of healthcare executive leadership experience for diagnostics and medical device companies including genomic testing in oncology. She has a track record of leading strategy, marketing, and commercialization in global businesses and innovative start-up companies, successfully launching new products in the US and beyond. Betsy previously served as Agendia Precision Oncology’s Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President. She received her MBA at Harvard Business School and holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

“Betsy joins us to take on the significant work already underway to bring our products to the US market,” said Dr Marcel Gehrung, Cyted Health’s CEO and Co-Founder. “This is a crucial moment in what will be a core market for Cyted Health’s work, and Betsy will bring deep expertise and considerable experience to grow our presence in the US. She will be invaluable for guiding our team through successful commercialization and her appointment is another step to expanding our footprint globally.”

The FDA’s clearance of EndoSign® in February was one of a series of recent milestones achieved by Cyted Health in the US. It followed a partnership with Devyser Genomic Laboratories to conduct the lab analyses announced in January. In November last year, Gail Marcus was appointed Chair of the Board, bringing her vast knowledge of the US healthcare system and supporting Betsy to deliver this year’s strategic plan.

Cyted Health is a gastrointestinal health company that has developed EndoSign®, a minimally invasive test to detect and monitor for signs of pre-cancer and other diseases. Testing can be completed in minutes in a nurse-led clinic. EndoSign® is already widely used across the UK to identify Barrett’s esophagus – a precursor to esophageal cancer – and the risk of patients developing cancer in the future.

“I look forward to leading Cyted Health’s US arm and contributing to the fight against esophageal cancer,” said Betsy Hanna. “EndoSign® can transform current methods for monitoring patients and make sure conditions are detected earlier and treated faster. I am highly confident that we can make a significant impact bringing this technology to US patients.”

09
April 2024
Capsule sponge test transforms care pathways in Scotland
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Read the full case study here.

The national implementation of capsule sponge testing in Scotland has delivered significant improvements for the care of upper gastrointestinal patients. The testing programme launched in 2020 to improve the quality of care and diagnostic waiting times for patients with Barrett’s oesophagus and those at risk of oesophageal cancer.

The challenge

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted Scotland’s endoscopy services, resulting in insufficient capacity to deliver timely procedures for patients requiring surveillance for Barrett’s oesophagus. Delays to surveillance increase the risk of cancer progression being missed until the later stages. This prompted the search for non-endoscopic options with strong clinical evidence, with NHS Scotland opting to use the capsule sponge test.

The solution

During the pandemic NHS Scotland began the national-level implementation of capsule sponge testing, to find a way to fast-track patients with signs of cancer for treatment and schedule patients at medium-to-low risk for their next surveillance procedure appropriately. As of January 2024, over 6000 tests have been performed throughout Scotland, with the test acting as a triage tool to identify patients requiring further investigation with endoscopy.

Key findings

Capsule sponge testing has cut patient waiting times significantly for NHS Scotland, while enriching endoscopy lists and boosting dysplasia detection rates to help clinicians identify more at-risk patients. This has released endoscopy resources for other complex procedures, such as bowel cancer screening.

  • Using the test for screening has helped Scotland reduce the demand for follow up endoscopies by 77%.
  • A national evaluation predicted cost savings of £700k in the first year and £3.3m over 5 years.
  • NHS Scotland reduced median waiting times for endoscopy from 9 months to 5 months.
  • From under 10% to over 50% concerning pathologies found at endoscopy.

Conclusion

By delivering high-quality care with fewer endoscopies, NHS Scotland has demonstrated what state-of-the-art Barrett’s surveillance could look like, prompting clinical teams across the UK and Europe to consider how to make a difference in the earlier detection of oesophageal cancer.

15
March 2024
Cyted and Microsoft Research Collaboration Published in Nature Communications
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  • Cyted and Microsoft Research collaborated to build novel AI models for efficient screening of cancer cells that could reduce pathologist workload by as much as 63%
  • Nature Communications published an article detailing the research

Cambridge based health company Cyted announced a publication in Nature Communications on research conducted in collaboration with Microsoft Research developing machine learning tools to enable earlier and faster detection of Barrett’s esophagus, a precursor to cancer.

“We have been delighted to collaborate with Microsoft Research to push the boundaries of what’s possible in medical imaging and screening technologies, creating optimal efficiencies from start to finish of the testing process” said Dr Marcel Gehrung, CEO and Co-founder at Cyted. “As we continue to expand, machine-learning will be an important tool to support our goals and make early cancer detection more accessible."

Esophageal cancer is one of the deadliest cancers with a five-year survival rate of less than 15%. Detecting Barrett’s esophagus, a precancerous condition, helps identify patients who are at a higher risk of developing esophageal cancer. Monitoring patients with this condition offers the best chance of early cancer detection and therefore earlier treatment of esophageal cancer, dramatically improving survival rates to 9 in 10 people surviving after 5 years.

The article titled “Enabling large-scale screening of Barrett’s esophagus using weakly supervised deep learning in histopathology” is an example of the innovative research that Cyted and Microsoft Research are advancing to optimize clinical workflows and improve the capabilities of earlier identification of cancer with technology.

Cyted’s capsule sponge technology, EndoSign® is a non-endoscopic test that collects cells from the esophagus in a process that takes less than ten minutes. Analysis of these cells is conducted by pathologists to identify biomarkers - a measurable biological indicator of the likelihood of a cancer developing.

Artificial Intelligence is being used to optimize the screening process by leveraging machine learning to help triage the large sets of pathology images. This saves precious pathologist time by screening out negative cases and controlling the quality of digitalized samples, cutting the pathologist’s workload down by as much as 63%.

“Microsoft Research seeks to advance science and technology to benefit humanity, often by identifying new applications for leveraging AI and machine learning,” said Javier Alvarez-Valle, Senior Director of Biomedical Imaging at Microsoft Research. “Collaborating with Cyted and sharing our work via open source will empower researchers and clinicians around the world to leverage this technology in their fight against cancer.”

The full article in Nature Communications can be viewed here.

A blog post written by Microsoft Research can also be found here.

28
February 2024
Cyted’s diagnostic technology streamlines endoscopy services in secondary care
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  • Capsule sponge technology proven to alleviate resource pressure on delivering endoscopies by reducing demand in secondary care by 78% in the UK
  • IQVIA calculated expected savings for the UK National Health Service of an estimated £421 per patient

An independent assessment by advanced analytics provider IQVIA in partnership with NHS England has found that Cyted’s minimally-invasive diagnostic technology reduced the demand for endoscopies in secondary care by 78%, improved the patient experience and decreased costs for the UK health system.

“The findings of this report illustrate the significant national impact of embedding our capsule sponge technology,” said Cyted CEO and Co-founder Marcel Gehrung. “It has allowed patients waiting for endoscopy to be effectively prioritised, enabling those in urgent need of diagnosis to be tested more quickly, reducing waiting lists and decreasing pressure on health systems. We look forward to expanding the adoption of this technology, helping detect disease earlier and improve patient outcomes.”

Cyted’s capsule sponge technology, EndoSign® is a non-endoscopic test used in the Heartburn Health Check. It sees patients swallow a capsule which collects cells from the oesophagus in a process that takes less than ten minutes. Analysis of these cells allows clinicians to monitor patients suffering from chronic heartburn and Barrett’s oesophagus - conditions that bring a higher risk of developing oesophageal cancer - and ensure that cancer is quickly detected and treated.

IQVIA’s report found that patient satisfaction levels were high, with 82% of patients agreeing that they were satisfied with their experience. Patients who had received an endoscopy before explained that the capsule sponge test was a preferable option to the current standard of care for diagnosing and monitoring patients with Barrett’s oesophagus. Wider deployment of the technology would serve to help improve patient experiences, alongside reducing waiting lists and easing pressures on patient pathways.

In reducing the number of endoscopies, this technology also reduced costs to the health system and alleviated the resource pressure in delivering endoscopy. The inclusion of capsule sponge technology in the diagnostic pathway resulted in a cost-saving of at least £421 per patient. Overall, according to IQVIA’s report, the introduction of the test at a national level would generate cost savings of up to £33 million over the course of five years for the NHS.

Swift diagnosis of Barrett’s oesophagus helps to identify more cancers earlier and faster. Oesophageal cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers, with over half a million people dying from the condition globally every year. By improving the efficiency and providing pre-screening capabilities, the capsule sponge technology of EndoSign® can help patients at risk of Oesophageal cancer. There are currently over 60 hospitals and 15 GP-based clinics offering EndoSign® testing across England, Scotland, and Wales.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, said: “Thousands of people have now benefited from this incredibly efficient test on the NHS. While the sponge on a string is small in size, it can make a big difference for patients.”

The project was undertaken by IQVIA over the course of the last two years in collaboration with National Health Service teams, Cyted, Medtronic, Cancer Alliances, Cambridge University and ENDOPREM.

Full press release from NHS England available here

A recording of the BSG webinar is available here

06
February 2024
Cyted receives 510(k) FDA clearance for EndoSign® technology
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Health company Cyted announces that the company has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its EndoSign® cell collection device, which is a non-endoscopic capsule sponge device used to collect pan-esophageal samples. These samples are then sent for laboratory testing to detect esophageal pre-cancer and other conditions.

Marcel Gehrung, CEO and Co-founder of Cyted, expresses the importance of the milestone, stating “This clearance opens up significant opportunities for Cyted across new geographies and health systems and confirms our device is safe and effective for use in the US. Combined with novel biomarkers, Cyted’s potential to transform the way patients with chronic reflux are identified and monitored is significant and this clearance is a major step for our expansion.”

Effective immediately, this 510(k) FDA clearance is an exciting step to bringing the Heartburn Health Check with EndoSign®, into new markets. Commercialization plans are already underway facilitated by a new partnership with Devyser Genomic Laboratories announced earlier this month.

Cyted’s Chair and non-executive director Gail Marcus said “Building on their achievements in the United Kingdom, Cyted’s FDA clearance marks an exciting milestone for the global business. We are excited to continue to empower patients by providing innovative solutions for diagnosing gastrointestinal diseases.”

Gail Marcus, appointed as Chair of the Board in November, will be supporting Cyted’s expansion into the US. The EndoSign® technology is already widely used across all regions in the United Kingdom as part of the Heartburn Health Check which investigates patients with symptoms such as persistent heartburn and reflux to identify those at risk of developing esophageal cancer. Gail’s deep expertise in the US healthcare system will be vital to realizing Cyted’s potential in the US.

“The current paradigm of endoscopy-based screening to prevent esophageal cancer has not decreased the incidence of this deadly disease. Non-endoscopic screening offers a promising, cost-effective new direction to decrease cancer deaths. I am pleased that new modalities such as EndoSign® will be available for our patients.” said Nicholas J. Shaheen MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

The EndoSign® technology has already demonstrated significant impact across multiple indications and applications in the digestive tract. Cyted has recently received a $1.3 million grant from the UK government to launch a precision medicine project for the diagnosis and treatment response prediction for the condition of Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE).

01
February 2024
Cyted's Carbon Reduction Plan
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Cyted's carbon reduction plan can be viewed here

09
January 2024
New trial brings EndoSign screening for esophageal cancer closer
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The BEST4 trial, designed to evaluate the potential of a national screening programme, started today. It seeks to explore if our Heartburn Health Check using the minimally invasive test, EndoSign, can prevent deaths from esophageal cancer when offered as a screening test to people on long-term medication for heartburn.

“This is another major step forward for our technology. The trial will evaluate the potential for a national screening programme and explore if our Heartburn Health Check using the minimally invasive test, EndoSign, can be used to prevent esophageal cancer when offered as a screening test to people on long-term medication for heartburn” said Cyted’s CEO and co-founder, Marcel Gehrung, “Our test is already deployed in over 70 hospitals and GP surgeries all across the UK and demonstrates how innovation can have a real and lasting impact on our health system, reducing waiting lists and ultimately saving lives.”

With Cyted’s non-invasive capsule sponge test continuing to prove its effectiveness at diagnosing Barret’s esophagus in the UK, the trial could pave the way for a test to be established as a routine screening programme to detect the condition, which can lead to esophageal cancer.

The trial builds on decades of research led by the Director at the Early Cancer Institute and Cyted’s co-founder, Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald. She and the team at Cyted invented and refined the capsule sponge test.

Tim Cowper will benefit from the BEST4 trial

Tim Cowper, 49, a brewer from Cambridge, has had acid reflux, or heartburn, every night since he was 16. A routine health check while he was at university resulted in the shock diagnosis of Barrett’s esophagus. After his diagnosis, he has been monitored ever since. Tim said:

“I was alarmed when I was told that having Barrett’s meant having pre-cancerous cells in my gullet. Cancer is never a nice word to hear, especially when you are so young, but luckily, I’ve had my condition monitored.”

“Since my diagnosis, I’ve been going for an endoscopy at least once every three years to monitor my esophagus. It is not pleasant at all. Each time, I have a thick tube pushed down through my mouth, and I can feel every single one of the biopsies taken by the camera. Swallowing a capsule sponge is a much better experience, and I now get the test before my regular endoscopy appointment.”

The second stage of the trial, BEST4 Screening, opens in the summer and will recruit 120,000 people aged over 55 on long-term treatment for heartburn.

The multi-million-pound trial is jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

14
December 2023
Cyted’s technology secures eight award nominations for innovation in three months
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The nominations recognise the entrepreneurial growth of the company, as well as the transformative impact the capsule sponge test and biomarker discovery process has had on a number of NHS sites.

From September to November, Cyted and our NHS partners were named as finalists in the following awards:

Innovate Awards, 21 September 2023

Four NHS sites have been named in the nominations, each using Cyted’s technology to tackle key challenges such as providing increased capacity, accessibility, and faster turnaround to improve care.

From ICB, system-wide initiatives and studies, to Trust and local level projects, the nominations demonstrate a wide range of implementations and the growing enthusiasm for capsule sponge testing.

Cyted’s CYTOPRIME1 project was recognised in a number of the nominations for both its scale and the success of the partnership between the company and the NHS sites, helping to transform endoscopy care pathways across Lancashire and South Cumbria.

The nominations add to the growing list of accolades for the company and support for capsule sponge testing seen in 2023. Cyted will continue building on this momentum in what promises to be another successful year of collaboration and innovation in 2024.

OBN Awards ceremony, 22 November 2023

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Recognizing Excellence: Our Awards and Accolades

We take pride in our commitment to innovation, excellence, and pioneering healthcare solutions. Our dedication to transforming diagnostics and improving patient outcomes has not gone unnoticed. Our achievements inspire us to continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible in healthcare.
2024
2023
2022
2021
HSJ Partnership Awards
Awarded
Diagnostics Project of the Year, in partnership with Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB
The Medilink Healthcare Business Awards
Shortlisted
One to Watch Award
Healthcare Honors Award
Finalist
Outstanding Innovation for CYTOPRIME1, alongside Lancs & South Cumbria NHS Trust
Barclays Entrepreneur Awards
Finalist
Eagle Labs Innovation Award
HSJ Awards
Finalist
Modernising Diagnostics — alongside Calderdale & Huddersfield FT; and University Hospitals of Leicester Trust
Laing Buisson
Finalist
Innovation in Health Tech
OBN Awards
Finalist
Outstanding Contribution to Population Health Through Innovation for our CYTOPRIME 1 project, alongside Lancashire & South Cumbria Cancer Alliance
Innovate Awards
Finalist
Best Established MedTech Company
NHS Parliamentary Awards
Finalist
Excellence in Health Care Award, alongside Lancs & South Cumbria Cancer Alliance
Laing Buisson
Finalist
Innovation in Health Tech
Cancer Research Horizons
Finalist
Startup achievement of the year
Prix Galien
Awarded
Best Medical Technology
Cofinitive, 21 to watch
Awarded
Cyted’s CEO named top 21
Cambridge Judge Business School
Awarded
Graduate business of the year
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Awarded
Cyted’s CEO, Marcel Gehrung awarded the Alexander Fleming prize
Forbes 30 under 30
Awarded
Cyted’s CEO, Marcel Gehrung named on Forbes 30 under 30 in the Science & Healthcare category