Epistem Holdings Plc announced that it has entered into a cooperative agreement with the US Air Force alongside an agreement with Johns Hopkins University (Advanced Physics Laboratory), to undertake the combat evaluation of Epistem's Genedrive(R) handheld molecular device for pathogen detection. The agreement will commence immediately and provides $0.6 million over 5 months to develop and evaluate Genedrive(R) for the identification of three known disease pathogens. Successful completion of the combat evaluation programme will secure ongoing investment for the development of Genedrive(R) as a handheld pathogen detection unit for the US Department of Defence.