IMS Solutions, a diagnostic solutions startup, has raised £1.1 million in a seed round led by Midlands Mindforge alongside SFC Capital, the UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), NG Bio, British Business Bank and private investors. IMS Solutions is further supported by a £2.1 million grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) awarded to Imperial College London.
IMS Solutions develops a platform that detects unique steroid signatures in urine and blood to address conditions featuring disordered steroid hormone metabolism. Steroid hormones control fundamental processes such as stress responses, metabolism, energy use, blood pressure regulation, reproduction and fertility, and disruptions often present with diffuse and diverse symptoms that are difficult, time-consuming and costly to diagnose. The first product to market will be ACCelerate, a urine test that can discriminate between benign and malignant adrenal tumours, rapidly identifying patients requiring surgery for adrenocortical carcinoma and reducing unnecessary surgery for patients with benign tumours.
The NIHR Invention for Innovation Product Development Award supports ongoing research at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences at Imperial’s Hammersmith Hospital Campus. Funding enables regulatory certification and commercialisation of ACCelerate, which consists of a unique panel of biomarkers and a machine learning algorithm trained on a retrospective data set to detect a malignant steroid fingerprint. The algorithm has already been validated prospectively in a multi-centre study involving over 2,000 patients from 11 countries, showing that the test is up to four times more accurate than scans alone.
IMS Solutions is also developing what is described as the world’s first stratification test for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome. PMOS involves multiple hormones, affects how the body processes food and energy, and is associated with a significantly raised risk of long-term health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and fatty liver disease. The test in development combines a blood test measuring biomarkers with a machine learning algorithm, is designed for use in primary care, and aims to stratify PMOS patients for treatment and improved management, with a clinical validation study in progress.
IMS Solutions is a joint spin-out from the University of Birmingham and Imperial College London, which have provided background patent and know-how intellectual property exclusively to IMS Solutions. The technology platform was initially developed at the University of Birmingham by Professor Wiebke Arlt, now Chief Scientific Officer at IMS Solutions, Director of the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, Head of Department at the Institute of Clinical Sciences at Imperial College London and President of the European Society of Endocrinology.
IMS Solutions is launching with a strong commercial and scientific team, and a well-advanced roadmap for products that align with current demands from patients, clinicians and healthcare providers.
Women’s health conditions such as PMOS have historically been significantly underfunded and underserved, despite affecting millions of women globally. IMS has the potential to change that by enabling faster, more accurate route to diagnosis and, ultimately, better patient outcomes. We are incredibly excited to be leading this investment and supporting the IMS team as they bring this important technology to market.
We validated the test through the largest ever adrenal cancer study, which involved over 2,000 patients from 11 countries, and this proved the test’s accuracy. The funding means we can now optimise the test and certify to current regulatory standards. In addition, we intend to show that it is also good value for money and can be reliably performed in existing NHS laboratories, without new machines or additional costs. We now know that PMOS is not a single disorder but that there are different PMOS subgroups, and some more than others increase the risk of metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The test we are developing will be able to discern which category patients are in, and identify health risks for an individual patient, enabling earlier and improved treatment options.
