Project description
New human milk test for optimal nutrition of preterm babies
It is estimated that 15 million babies annually are born too soon – before 37 completed weeks of gestation – and this number is rising. Preterm babies are also more likely to have long-term neurological and developmental disorders than those born at term. Since inadequate nutrition is the major reason for preterm infants' growth failure and related illnesses, the milk needs to be fortified to avoid undernourishment. The EU-funded Preemie project is making sure that individual differences in the human milk's composition and the infant's nutritional needs are taken into account when fortifying human milk. It is developing the first rapid, portable, affordable and easy-to-use milk testing system calibrated with human milk. It can automatically calculate the fortification needed by each baby at each feeding, resulting in optimal nutrition and growth for preterm babies.
Objective
Each year 500,000 preterm babies are born in Europe out of 15-million worldwide. They often have poor health, with a severe lifetime impact on their quality of life and that of their families. Pre-term birth is a leading cause of lifelong disabilities with high societal economic costs. Inadequate nutrition is the major reason for preterm infants’ ill health. To grow as they would in utero, preterm infants need more nutrition than is provided by their mother’s milk, so the milk needs to be fortified to avoid undernourishment. However, the fortification typically done in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) does not take into account the individual differences in the human milk’s composition and the infant’s nutritional needs, which vary with age and weight.
To address this issue, Tellspec has developed Preemie, the first rapid, portable, affordable, and easy-to-use milk testing system calibrated with human milk, that automatically calculates the fortification needed, to reduce the workload and human errors. Preemie also uses blockchain technology to trace the origin and confirm the authenticity of the donor’s milk. An inexpensive portable and rapid analyser such as Preemie would disrupt the existing market by allowing NICUs and milk banks to scan all donor milk and automatically suggest fortification to be done based on each infant's individual needs, resulting in optimal health.
In this project Tellspec will commercialise Preemie, by tailoring the software to the market and validate it in collaboration with a European hospital and a milk bank, by obtaining the medical certification needed to go to market, and by implementing advertising, sales promotions and marketing activities.
The funds raised will enable Tellspec to enlarge its customer base, expand the current team of people, set up high-volume distribution capacity in Europe, and consolidate the business strategy to pave the way for future VC investments.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
SW1V 4PS LONDON
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.