Upfront Diagnostics Debuts Rapid Blood Test for Identifying Stroke

Upfront Diagnostics has officially launched LVOne, a rapid blood test designed to help identify large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes in the pre-hospital setting. The test has received UKCA marking, enabling clinical use in the United Kingdom, and is being deployed in partnership with the London Ambulance Service (LAS).

LVOne aims to help paramedics identify patients likely experiencing severe stroke while still in the ambulance, thereby facilitating access to mechanical thrombectomy, a time-critical procedure that removes large clots from brain arteries.

The first deployment will equip approximately 280 London Ambulance Service vehicles serving North Central, North West, and North East London, covering roughly 6.5 million people. During a six-month pilot, paramedics will test suspected stroke patients using the finger-prick blood test.

“Receiving the UKCA mark and launching LVOne represents a major milestone for Upfront Diagnostics and for stroke care more broadly,” Upfront Diagnostics Co-Founder/CEO Gonzalo Ladreda said. “After eight years of research and development, we are now bringing this technology into real-world emergency care. Our goal is to give paramedics actionable information within minutes so emergency teams can fast-track patients to the right treatment pathway.”

Stroke treatment is highly time-dependent. In patients with large vessel occlusion, mechanical thrombectomy can significantly improve outcomes, but only when performed quickly at specialized stroke centers. Many patients currently lose critical time due to not recognizing the stroke subtype at an early stage.

LVOne measures two blood biomarkers—D-dimer, associated with clot formation, and GFAP, associated with brain bleeding—to help differentiate stroke types and identify patients who are likely experiencing LVO. The test is designed to deliver results in less than 10 minutes from a finger-prick blood sample.

The London deployment is being led by Dr. Robert Simister, consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Hospitals (UCLH), in collaboration with the London Ambulance Service and several major stroke centers across the capital.

“Rapid identification of large vessel occlusion is one of the biggest challenges in stroke care,” stated Dr. Simister, lead investigator for the London program. “By enabling paramedics to identify likely LVO stroke in the ambulance, we can prepare specialist stroke teams before the patient arrives and potentially reduce treatment delays significantly.”

Paramedics participating in the pilot will combine LVOne testing with existing pre-hospital stroke assessment and video triage tools to provide receiving hospital teams with advanced warning of an incoming LVO case, enabling them to proactively prepare their specialized staff and equipment before the patient arrives.

Upfront Diagnostics developed LVOne over eight years through support from the University of Cambridge and Newcastle University, Innovate U.K., the NHS, SBRI Healthcare, Stroke Association, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The company expects the UKCA marking to support broader adoption of the test in emergency stroke systems and is exploring additional clinical deployments beyond the initial London program.

Founded in Cambridge, United Kingdom in 2017, Upfront Diagnostics is a medtech company developing point-of-care diagnostic tests for time-critical medical conditions. The company’s lead product, LVOne, is designed to help emergency teams identify severe stroke earlier and improve triage decisions in the pre-hospital setting.