UK Startup Raises £1.5 Million to Fight Deadly Sepsis with AI

Presymptom Health, a UK-based startup pioneering the use of artificial intelligence for early infection and sepsis detection, has secured £1.5 million in equity and grant funding to combat the life-threatening consequences of delayed sepsis diagnosis.

Sepsis, a severe body response to infection, claims the lives of nearly 48,000 people annually in Britain alone (UK Sepsis Trust). The condition’s lethality is heavily linked to late diagnosis. 

Presymptom to Battle Sepsis with New Funding

The company noted that for every hour sepsis goes untreated, the mortality rate rises by 10%. However, early intervention offers a significantly higher chance of successful treatment.

Speaking on the deadly threat of delayed diagnosis, Dr Iain Miller, CEO of Presymptom Health, said: “If we take Sepsis as an example. Sepsis diagnostics hasn’t moved on in more than a century, and currently, doctors can only diagnose it when advanced symptoms and organ failure are present – which is often too late.”

Presymptom Health’s technology boasts the potential to detect infection and sepsis “up to three days before formal clinical diagnosis,” offering a crucial window for effective treatment.

The UK startup leverages machine learning and AI analytics to unlock critical insights from a vast biobank. By analysing these samples, the company’s technology facilitates substantially faster detection of infections and sepsis. 

The funding round included participation from prominent investors like UKI2S, Ploughshare, and MedTechToMarket, according to reports. 

AI is Improving Human Lives

The development marks just another way AI is helping in the medical field to improve the lives of people. 

In August, Cryptopolitan reported on a study conducted in Sweden which shed light on the potential of AI to improve breast cancer AI detection in screenings.

Breast cancer reportedly claimed about 670,000 lives globally in 2022, and about 42,250 women are estimated to die from breast cancer in 2024, according to the American Cancer Society.