OMH Osmetech

RNS Number:5774U
Osmetech PLC
23 November 2000



    OSMETECH PLC SIGNS HEALTHCARE COLLABORATION AGREEMENT


*  The world's No.1 healthcare and No.1 industrial e-nose
   companies to jointly test sensor technologies in a
   clinical setting.

*  Potential to accelerate the commercialisation process and
   path to revenue.

*  Opportunities to access new application areas with the
   hand held instrument in the growing point of care medical
   diagnostics market.


Osmetech  plc  ("Osmetech" or "the  company"),  the  world's
leading  electronic nose ("e-nose") company  for  healthcare
applications   today  announces  a  technical  collaboration
agreement  with  leading industrial e-nose  company,  Cyrano
Sciences  Inc  ("Cyrano") of the USA.  Cyrano have  recently
launched  a hand-held sensing instrument, the Cyranose  320,
targeting certain key industrial markets.

Osmetech's  sensor  arrays  will be  incorporated  into  the
Cyranose  320  product.  This combined  instrument  will  be
tested along with the standard Cyranose 320 hand-held device
during jointly funded trials initially for the detection  of
bacteria present in urinary tract infections (UTI).

The  trials  will be carried out at the Channing laboratory,
Brigham  and  Women's Hospital, Boston,  Massachusetts,  USA
where the company has previously carried out successful  UTI
tests   under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  Andrew  Onderdonk,
Professor  of  Pathology, Harvard Medical School.   The  new
trials will utilise the protocols adopted previously and are
expected to have been concluded by mid-2001.

It  is  anticipated that if these trials produce  favourable
results,  then the two parties plan to negotiate a licencing
agreement to expedite the commercialisation of this product.
A  submission to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  for
approval of the product capable of satisfying the demands of
the  UTI point of care ("POC") healthcare market sector will
follow.   This  submission  will  be  in  addition  to   the
company's FDA application expected within the next 3  months
for its existing laboratory instrument.

Gordon Hall, Chairman of Osmetech said, "We are delighted to
announce this agreement which should provide a low cost, low
risk    route    to   accelerating   the   commercialisation
opportunities for this exciting new technology.

"We look forward to working with Cyrano and their healthcare
partner,  Welch Allyn, on this UTI project and if successful
anticipate that it will lead to similar projects  for  other
medical applications".

"The  global healthcare market is progressing towards  point
of  care  diagnosis  and treatment, a methodology  to  which
rapid  e-nose  technology is well suited.  We  believe  that
this   venture  could  add  significant  value   to   e-nose
technology providing faster and cheaper methods of detecting
infections  in  both  established  and  developing   medical
areas."

Professor Andrew Onderdonk, Brigham and Women's Hospital and
Editor  and  Chief  of the Journal of Clinical  Microbiology
said, "Following on from the successful UTI trials performed
on Osmetech's Microbial Analyser laboratory instrument, this
is  an  exciting opportunity to test a hand held device  and
different  sensors  under similar  conditions.   This  could
provide   a   valuable   insight  into   optimising   sensor
combinations both for this particular test and for medical e-
nose applications generally.  I am delighted to continue  to
work with this highly innovative sensing technology that has
the potential to bring significant benefits to point of care
medical diagnostics for both the patient and physician."

                        
Enquiries:

Osmetech plc
James White
01270 216444


Bell Pottinger Financial
Rebecca Fox / Matthew Moth
020 7353 9203



Notes to Editors

*  Osmetech plc designs, develops and manufactures

   electronic gas and odour sensors (electronic noses) for
   use in the healthcare sector. Osmetech's multi-sensor
   array based gas sensing technology screens patient
   samples and tests for the presence of infection-causing
   bacteria.

*  The Company is currently focusing its IP development on
   sensors that can detect bacteria associated with urinary
   tract infections (UTIs), bacterial vaginosis (BV) and
   pneumonia in ICU patients.

*  Osmetech announced at the start of this year that it's
   first set of trials for its Urinary Tract Infections
   product had been successful. The trials, carried out at
   St Thomas', London, and the Brigham & Women's Hospital,
   Harvard, USA, enabled the company to obtain "proof of
   concept" status for its technology. The agreement today
   marks the next stage of commercial development.

*  In October 2000, the Board of Osmetech announced that,
   following a large proof of concept study at St George's
   Hospital Medical School, London, Osmetech's Bacterial
   Vaginosis Microbial Analyser matched the diagnostic
   performance of the existing "gold standard" diagnostic
   test.

*  Cyrano Sciences Inc, based in Pasadena, California,
   designs and manufactures the Cyranose 320, a hand held
   instrument for broad based chemical detection.  The
   Cyranose 320 is currently in use in a variety of quality
   assurance and quality control applications in the
   chemical, petrochemical, food, flavours, and fragrance
   markets.

*  Every year Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) account for
   more than 6 million physician visits and 1 million
   hospitalisations in the US. Worldwide there are
   approximately 500 million urine tests performed every
   year, at an average cost per test of $5 ($2.5 billion).
   The average US hospital processes 200 urine samples a
   day, at an average cost per day of $843 for each
   hospital.

*  At present the majority of UTI tests are culture-based,
   with patients having to wait for 3-5 days to receive
   results. The point-of-care technology being tested by
   Osmetech and Cyrano will mean that tests can be analysed
   at the surgery or hospital and results given to patients
   immediately.

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