PEB
26/11/2014 12:33
GENERAL
PRICE SENSITIVE
REL: 1233 HRS Pacific Edge Limited
GENERAL: PEB: Europe grants PE patent - colorectal cancer prognostic tech
26 November 2014
Europe grants Pacific Edge patent for colorectal cancer prognostic technology
The European Intellectual Property Office which operates across 38 countries
including all European Union members, has awarded Pacific Edge a patent for
its colorectal cancer prognostic technology.
Pacific Edge Chief Executive Officer David Darling says the issue of the
patent is a further step for the Company by providing intellectual property
protection in all members of the European Union plus Switzerland, Turkey,
Albania, Bulgaria, Norway, Iceland, Serbia and Macedonia. Colorectal cancer
is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and the second in
females worldwide, with over 1.2 million new cases and 608,700 deaths
estimated to have occurred in 2008.
"Currently our focus is on accelerating the roll-out of the Company's first
commercial molecular diagnostic test, Cxbladder-detect, in the USA, the
world's largest health care market. As milestones are attained there, the
opportunity to launch the Cxbladder system into other markets and bring to
market further developments of our intellectual property, such as our
colorectal cancer technology, become attractive.
The incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing in many countries and this
has been attributed to changing lifestyles and diets.
Pacific Edge's colorectal cancer prognostic technology is targeted to enable
the detection of aggressive cancer in patients already diagnosed with
colorectal cancer. This prognostic test in development is expected to provide
clinicians with a significantly improved opportunity to determine the
aggressiveness of Stage II and Stage III colorectal cancer. The test results
will enable physicians to predict progression and provide patients with a
more specific treatment following surgery.
Pacific Edge's colorectal cancer prognostic gene signature is in development
and on completion will become another commercial product for the Company,
joining the Cx family as Cxcolorectal.
Presently, patients with Stage II disease are generally not treated with
adjuvant chemotherapy as it is not possible to identify the subset of
patients who will have the aggressive disease. In the five major European
countries, the USA and Japan, approximately 430,000 individuals are diagnosed
with colorectal cancer every year. Of those diagnosed cases approximately
280,000 patients are diagnosed with Stage II and Stage III progressions of
the cancer. Approximately 30% of the patients with Stage II and roughly 50%
of those with Stage III experience disease progression including distant
metastasis of the liver and lung or local recurrence within three to five
years after surgery. If the cancer spreads to distant organs, the five-year
survival rate for these patients is approximately 8%, making the early
detection of those patients with an aggressive disease a significant medical
opportunity for clinicians and patients. Cxcolorectal, when completed and
launched in the market, will provide clinicians with a valuable tool to help
identify those patients at greatest risk who will then be able to be more
appropriately targeted for adjuvant chemotherapy in addition to surgery.
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. The
company is developing and commercialising its range of Cxbladder bladder
cancer tests. It's first commercial product, Cxbladder Detect, is now being
actively marketed to physicians and clinicians in New Zealand, Australia, and
the USA through the company's wholly owned subsidiaries and selected
commercial partners.
www.pacificedge.co.nz www.pacificedgedx.com
ABOUT Cxbladder
Cxbladder Detect 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 Detect is commercially available 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
Detect cancer detection test has been validated by a multicentre,
international clinical study.
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.
Bladder cancer has a very high recurrence rate of approximately 50%-70% with
up to 30% of these recurring as later stage tumours. However, bladder cancers
are highly treatable, especially if detected in the early stages when 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:00258140 For:PEB Type:GENERAL Time:2014-11-26 12:33:25
