Exalenz initiates trial of breath-based test for NASH

Exalenz Bioscience has launched a clinical trial that will evaluate BreathID, a diagnostic test that could potentially diagnose nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, according to a press release.

The trial will include 200 patients from across the United States and Europe and will investigate BreathID’s ability to diagnose nonalcoholic steatohepatitis compared with liver biopsy, standard examinations and blood tests, according to the release.

BreathID technology is a non-invasive and cost-effective technique for assessing and monitoring a variety of liver disorders, according to the Exalenz website. The test uses molecular analysis of a patient’s exhaled breath to provide quick, ongoing monitoring and data analysis.

“Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a significant cause of chronic liver disease affecting both children and adults and its incidence continues to rapidly expand in the Western World,” Stephen Harrison, MD, chief of hepatology, Brooke Army Hospital, San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, said in the release. “The BreathID platform shows promise as a convenient, non-invasive diagnostic technology to assist clinicians in managing patients efficiently and rapidly. The BreathID could determine which patients need to undergo further investigation and help decide which patients should be treated when therapies become available.”

Harrison and Vlad Ratziu, MD, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie Hospital and head of hepatology at Hospital La Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris, will be leading the investigation, according to the release.

“The current study aims to assess a new and innovative diagnostic test to fulfill this major unmet clinical need within a comprehensive grading and staging of the disease,” Ratziu said in the release. – by Melinda Stevens