PEB
27/02/2014 10:00
GENERAL
REL: 1000 HRS Pacific Edge Limited
GENERAL: PEB: Callaghan Innovation Growth Grant
Callaghan Innovation Growth Grant accelerates Cxbladder development
Pacific Edge is delighted to have the support of Callaghan Innovation to
further accelerate the development of its molecular cancer detection
technology.
Callaghan Innovation has announced a Growth Grant for Pacific Edge that will
provide up to $4.5 million spread over three years with additional funding
for a further two years available on review.
Pacific Edge Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Suttie says the Government's
Callaghan Innovation fund recognises the ability of the Company to turn
scientific discovery into products that bring real benefits for clinicians
and patients.
"This funding will provide additional resources to accelerate the
development of a range of cancer detection tests, including further
non-invasive bladder cancer tests under the brand of Cxbladder.
Cxbladderdetect is now available to patients and their clinicians in the USA,
New Zealand and Australia. This one-stop shop of products is designed to
enhance the clinician's perspective of the urological tract for patients
presenting with symptoms of possible bladder cancer."
Pacific Edge's Chief Executive Officer David Darling says the Callaghan
Innovation Growth Grant is also recognition for those shareholders who have
supported Pacific Edge through the years of research, product development and
commercialisation.
"Pacific Edge started out with a mission to make a real difference by
finding ways to identify a range of cancers in their early stages when they
can be treated with less devastating impact on peoples lives."
Cxbladder is the first commercial result of that research. Pacific Edge also
has patents for diagnostic and prognostic tests for a range of other cancers
including colorectal, gastric and melanoma.
The Growth Grant will supplement Pacific Edge's own research and product
development budget and lead to the employment of further research staff at
its Dunedin Headquarters and Research Facility.
For more information contact:
David Darling
Chief Executive Officer
Pacific Edge Ltd
P: +64 (3) 479 5800
ABOUT PACIFIC EDGE
Pacific Edge Limited (NZX: PEB) is a New Zealand based cancer diagnostic
company specialising in the discovery and commercialisation of diagnostic and
prognostic technology for the early detection and monitoring of cancer.
Products in development and in clinical trials are accurate and simple to use
genomic and proteomic tools for the earlier detection, improved
characterisation and better management of gastric, bladder, colorectal
cancers and melanoma. The company has completed and released its first
product for the detection of bladder cancer, Cxbladder, and is actively
marketing the product to physicians and clinicians in New Zealand, Australia
and the USA and soon in Spain.
www.pacificedge.co.nz
ABOUT PACIFIC EDGE DIAGNOSTICS
Pacific Edge takes its exciting cancer detection tests to market through its
wholly owned subsidiaries, Pacific Edge Diagnostics NZ Ltd and Pacific Edge
Diagnostics USA Ltd, and selected commercial partners in Australia and Spain,
Healthscope and Oryzon respectively.
www.pacificedgedx.com
ABOUT Cxbladder
Cxbladder is a proprietary, accurate molecular diagnostic test that enables
the non-invasive detection of bladder and other urinary tract cancers from a
small volume of urine. Cxbladder is commercialised in the USA as a Laboratory
Developed Test (LDT). It provides physicians and clinicians with a quick,
cost effective and accurate measure of the presence of the cancer, and
provides urologists with the opportunity to reduce their reliance on the need
for invasive tests such as cystoscopy. The Cxbladder cancer detection test
has been validated by a multicentre, international clinical study. Results
published in the Journal of Urology (Sept 2012) show that Cxbladder
out-performed all of the benchmark technologies in the clinical trial and
detected nearly all of the tumours of concern to a urologist; At a
performance of 82% sensitivity and 85% specificity the test sees 100% of T1,
100% of T2, 100% of T3, 100% of Tis and 100% of upper urinary tract cancers
as well as greater than 95% of high grade tumours.
www.cxbladder.com
ABOUT BLADDER CANCER
Globally, bladder cancer has the 9th highest incidence and the 4th highest
incidence for men. One of the early symptoms of bladder cancer is the
presence of blood in the urine, haematuria. People with haematuria often
present to their general practitioner before being referred on to a
urologist.
There are a number of 'at risk' occupations that have shown a much higher
incidence of bladder cancer. Fire fighters and fire control officers have
shown in a US study to have a twice the incidence of bladder cancer over non
fire fighters. Smoking is a significant contributing factor (over 50% in
males and 33% in females, and approximately one of every two new incidences
of bladder cancer is linked to smoking). Exposure to certain industrial
chemicals or carcinogens increases risks for some occupations e.g.
hairdressers, painters, printers, fire fighters and metal workers and
chemical engineers. Incidence increases with age so the older you are, the
greater the potential for bladder cancer.
Bladder cancer has a very high recurrence rate of approximately 50%-70% with
up to 30% of these recurring as later stage tumours. This is a higher
recurrence than for skin cancer! However, bladder cancers are highly
treatable, especially if detected in the early stages. If diagnosed early
there is a much higher probability of survival for early stage tumours
relative to later stage tumours. This makes timely and regular surveillance
and monitoring of this cancer a key element of the clinical process and of
the individual's annual healthcare plan.
End CA:00247564 For:PEB Type:GENERAL Time:2014-02-27 10:00:25
