Healthcare marketing communications agency, Onyx Health, has chosen innovative medtech spin-out PulmoBioMed as the winner of its £5,000 #ThinkBig competition, designed to help life science companies bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis.

Having been chosen as the winner of the competition, PulmoBioMed will receive £5,000 of Onyx Health's full range of healthcare communications support for free, helping them achieve commercial success and access key target markets. #ThinkBig is aimed at innovative start-ups and SMEs in the health and life science sectors, who are at the cutting edge of the industry and can bring something distinctive to the market.

PulmoBioMed is a newly launched Northumbria University spin-out, founded by associate professor Dr Sterghios Moschos and supported into commercialisation by chief executive officer Dr Pete Hotten, who has over 20 years of senior management experience.

Dr Moschos's pioneering work in biomedical sciences and proof of concept funding from Northern Accelerator has led to the creation of an innovative, hand-held breath testing device PBM-Hale. The device allows sampling of the lungs in a non-invasive way which can be used to detect biomarkers in the breath, for lung conditions such as COVID-19, therapeutic drugs and substances of abuse. This technology is currently being trialled in clinical centres across Europe, with results expected soon.

Onyx Health associate director Louise Flintoft said: "We had a strong field of entries from across the UK and Europe for our #ThinkBig competition, and from diverse areas of medical diagnostics and devices, biotechnology and digital therapeutics. PulmoBioMed is a spinout with commercial potential and a wide range of diagnostic applications. They are a great fit with Onyx Health's ethos and values as an agency and we feel we can offer them the greatest value from the £5,000 prize."

PulmoBioMed chief operating officer Jonathan Brookes added: "We've already had a flurry of interest in PBM-Hale and its range of clinical applications following our recent launch. We've gained recognition as a leading company in our field. Our key focus is on developing and commercialising the breath sampling technology and its integration into a range of healthcare settings. Onyx Health's specialist healthcare communication knowledge will help us stand out from the crowd in a highly competitive market.”