Breath-Based Technology Platform Could Revolutionize Disease Diagnosis

What if you could detect cancer just by breathing into a machine? Scientists are finding that lung cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses cause specific chemicals to be released into the body—chemicals that show up in the patient’s breath, much as alcohol does in those who’ve been drinking. This discovery is paving the way for Breathalyzer-style devices that pick up the unique chemical signature of disease from a simple exhalation.

Trained dogs have been shown to sniff out lung cancer with over 70% accuracy. But for medical facilities that don’t have Lassie on staff, breath tests could revolutionize the diagnostic process. Lung cancer usually isn’t diagnosed until its late stages; a breath test could save lives by enabling doctors to catch the disease earlier. For diabetics, a breath test could replace the standard finger-stick test for checking blood glucose levels. Doctors could use breath tests to distinguish between patients with viral and bacterial respiratory infections, which could help avoid unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. “My sense is that breath analysis is the future of medical testing, complementing many of the blood and imaging steps we do today,” Dr. Raed Dweik, director of the pulmonary vascular program at the Cleveland Clinic, told the New York Times last summer.

Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: APNT), a Texas-based nanotechnology company, is at the forefront of diagnostic breath testing. APNT recently patented a technology platform that could put breath-based disease detectors in doctor’s offices and laboratories across America.

APNT’s EZKnowz platform has the potential to detect a wide variety of gases and diseases, including lung cancer, influenza, pharmaceutical contamination, wound healing/infection and plant diseases. In addition, the system has been shown to identify body odor biometrics for use in military and homeland security applications, including the detection of explosives. The system is highly sensitive, capable of detecting gas levels in the range of parts per billion, and in some cases, parts per trillion.

The EZKnowz platform has another big advantage over currently available breath detection systems. Current systems are large in size, limiting their use to laboratories and facilities that have the space to house them. In contrast, EZKnowz is portable, making it small enough for use in a variety of settings, including laboratories, doctor’s offices and home-health environments. This opens up a huge market opportunity for APNT.

EZKnowz is just one of 300 patents (150 issued, 150 pending) in Applied Nanotech’s IP portfolio. The Company is entering a period of accelerated growth resulting from the introduction of a number of breakthrough products powered by its technology. Much like EZKnows, this technology has applications in a variety of high-growth sectors, including medicine, defense and consumer goods. APNT counts Japanese sporting goods giant Yonex, chemical company Ishihara and the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy among its customers.

The strength of APNT’s technology portfolio is just one of several reasons RedChip Research rated Applied Nanotech a “Buy” in its recent initial report on the Company. To learn more about APNT, you can watch CEO Doug Baker’s presentation from our recent New York conference.

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