27 January 2026 – Melbourne, Australia | Nexsen Limited (ASX:NXN) has secured a $500,000 non-dilutive Federal Government grant to expand its rapid point-of-care diagnostic platform into neonatal testing, significantly broadening the commercial and clinical scope of its Group B Streptococcus (GBS) program for a materially larger opportunity for testing.
The funding has been awarded to RMIT University under the Commonwealth’s Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Ignite program, with Nexsen appointed as the industry commercialisation partner. The project, titled “Transforming Neonatal Care with a Rapid Diagnostic for Group B Streptococcus (GBS)”, has a total value exceeding $1 million.
The initiative will support the rapid customisation of Nexsen’s existing Maternal GBS Rapid Sensor technology into a new diagnostic product suitable for neonatal testing. By enabling timely point-of-care diagnosis of GBS in newborns, the project aims to reduce GBS-related sepsis and the overuse of antibiotics in neonatal care settings.
GBS remains a leading cause of severe infection in neonates worldwide. In 2020, an estimated 232,000 newborns developed invasive GBS disease globally, resulting in approximately 92,000 deaths and stillbirths. Survivors face an increased risk of long-term neurodevelopmental impairment.
The extension of Nexsen’s GBS technology into neonatal applications opens a materially larger addressable market, with potential use in routine screening at or shortly after birth. In 2024, there were an estimated 132 million births globally, representing a substantial expansion opportunity alongside existing maternal screening markets.
Nexsen’s Managing Director, Mark Muzzin, commented:
“This funding supports an important extension of our GBS program into neonatal care, a clinical setting where rapid and accurate diagnostics can have a direct impact on outcomes. Working alongside RMIT University, the project allows us to broaden the clinical utility of our technology while advancing a larger global testing opportunity, all with minimal capital outlay for Nexsen.”
Nexsen’s GBS Rapid Sensor is currently undergoing clinical trials and progressing toward a 501(k) pre-submission meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for maternal screening. The AEA Ignite funding enables the same core technology to be adapted for neonatal testing, targeting both early-onset and late-onset GBS infections in newborns.
The collaborative project between Nexsen and RMIT University researchers will initially focus on delivering a neonatal GBS diagnostic device with analytical and pilot clinical performance validated over the next year. The work will also demonstrate the scalability of Nexsen’s diagnostic platform for development of additional biomarker-based diagnostics across other clinical indications.
Distinguished Professor Vipul Bansal (FRSC), Director of RMIT Sir Ian Potter NanoBioSensing Facility and Nexsen’s Chief Innovation Officer, said:
“This award reflects the translational readiness of our diagnostic platform, the substantial progress achieved through the maternal GBS program, and the strength of the long-standing collaboration between RMIT University and Nexsen. The project demonstrates how established platform capabilities can be efficiently leveraged to extend the technology into neonatal applications, reinforcing the scalability of Nexsen’s approach and its capacity to progress additional high-impact diagnostic programs.”
Selection under the AEA Ignite program highlights the relevance of Nexsen’s technology to the Australian Government’s advanced manufacturing priorities and supports the development of domestically developed medical technologies with scalable clinical and commercial potential.
The total project value is $1,029,538 in non-dilutive grant funding, with contributions from the Commonwealth ($500,000), Nexsen ($100,000 cash and $100,000 in-kind), and RMIT University ($329,538 in-kind).
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About Nexsen Limited (ASX: NXN)
Nexsen is developing a suite of rapid point-of-care diagnostics that deliver lab-grade results for conditions that have traditionally relied on delayed lab testing. The Company focuses on areas of significant unmet clinical need, where faster answers can improve patient outcomes and reduce pressure on healthcare systems.
Nexsen’s lead diagnostic is the GBS Rapid Sensor, a rapid point-of-care diagnostic for detecting Group B Streptococcus, addressing a critical unmet need in maternal health. The company is also developing rapid kidney function tests for Acute Kidney Injury and Chronic Kidney Disease, two conditions that affect more than 850 million people globally and remain underserved by slow, lab-based diagnostics.
With further diagnostics in development across human health, ag-tech and biosecurity, Nexsen aims to become a global leader in rapid point-of-care diagnostics, delivering on its mission to ensure every person benefits from a Nexsen test at some point in their life.
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