The ViroGates share has shown strong performance with an increase of almost 100% this year (November 5, 2021), driven by customer progress, solid clinical sales and pipeline data. ViroGates is an international medical technology company working with suPAR, which is a biomarker detecting inflammation in the body.
High suPAR equals high risk of mortality
It is possible to measure the protein in the blood of everyone. From studies on diseases such as HIV, cancer, diabetes, hepatitis C and other viruses it is evident that the higher the suPAR, the more ill you become as compared to people with low suPAR levels. Thus, suPAR levels respectively below 4ng/ml, between 4-6ng/ml and above 6ng/ml can identify critical patients with a low, medium or high risk of mortality within 30 and 90 days.
ViroGates offers three types of tests:
- ELISA for use by research clients
- suPARnostic Quick Triage for use in emergency rooms
- suPARnostic TurbiLatex for use in hospitals with their own laboratories
ViroGate’s products are approved in the EU, India and Canada and the company wants to expand the markets to include the USA and Asia in the longer run.
Patients undergoing major surgeries are often at risk of developing postoperative complications, which are a common cause of death and illness. These complications can also increase both hospitalization in ICU (intensive care) and general hospitalization, affecting health care costs. Studies show that suPAR can help identify patients at high risk for postoperative complications, morbidity and mortality. For each increase ng/ml, the probability of developing postoperative complications increases by 50%.
suPAR can be used to predict severe Covid-19 complications
Another study has shown that suPAR has excellent prognostic benefit in predicting severe Covid-19 complications in inpatients. The ongoing pandemic is putting continuous pressure on hospitals. The current standard of care for COVID-19 patients is dependent on routine clinical and laboratory assessments, but offers limited prognostic information. A new study has shown that higher suPAR levels at the time of hospitalization are associated with a higher risk of blood clots and mortality in patients with COVID-19.
New finger prick test on the way
When suPARnostic Quick Triage is used in an emergency room, the doctor can get a response to the suPAR level in 20 minutes with a blood test. This allows the doctor to assess whether the patient is required to be hospitalized or to be sent home. However, ViroGates is working on improving the method in a way that it is based on a finger prick test with a potentially shorter response time, which may open up new possibilities.
Investors should keep an eye on the new finger prick test, which is expected to be launched in Q2’22, more clinical data on suPAR as well as the continuous announcement of new routine customers.