ELLUME UNLOCKS GROWTH WITH FLU TESTING

BRISBANE-based healthcare company Ellume has capped off the opening of its redeveloped laboratory with $50,000 in government funding.

The larger facility in Woolloongabba will increase production capacity of the company's Respirio Flu Test to two million devices a year.

The world-first at-home influenza test sends the results to a doctor for a telemedicine consultation using a unique code system on the device. It cost $16 million and took five years to develop.

Ellume managing director Dr Sean Parsons says the Respirio Flu Test is expected to launch in Europe in early 2017, following final clinical trials this year.

"We have developed this product to enable people to go from sick to well as quickly as possible," Parsons says.

"This means accessing a reliable diagnosis and linking the result to a doctor's consultation and appropriate treatment.

"We're focused on making high quality healthcare cheaper and more accessible, taking pressure off public resources and reducing the burden of disease on the community."

Ellume is the recipient of $50,000 funding under Advance Queensland's Knowledge Transfer Partnership Program to support the development of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) test.

RSV can result in hospitalisation for babies, middle ear infections, pneumonia and bronchiolitis for children as well as immune-compromised adults and those with heart or lung conditions.

The company will also develop a hand-held device that allows doctors to simultaneously test for up to four viruses and receive results in minutes, including influenza A and B, group A streptococci, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and pregnancy.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch says the Advance Queensland grant will also support a QUT post-graduate student to work on the project.

"The funding, provided through the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Program, has enabled Ellume to work on an innovative ultra-sensitive test to help diagnose RSV, which is one of the most common causes of childhood lung infections," Enoch says.

"Ellume is a perfect example of what it means to take an innovative idea, work collaboratively and turn it into a product with the potential to improve health outcomes and create commercial opportunities."

The project is in collaboration with Professor Paul Young from the University of Queensland.

Image: Ellume chairman Paul Darrouzet, Minister for Science, Innovation and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch and Ellume founder and managing director Dr Sean Parsons.