Ann: GENERAL: PEB: MidCentral DHB first in New Ze

• Release Date: 30/05/13 13:22
• Summary: GENERAL: PEB: MidCentral DHB first in New Zealand to utilise Cxbladder
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PEB
30/05/2013 11:22
GENERAL

REL: 1122 HRS Pacific Edge Limited

GENERAL: PEB: MidCentral DHB first in New Zealand to utilise Cxbladder

MidCentral DHB first in New Zealand to utilise Cxbladder

MidCentral District Health Board, based in Palmerston North, is set to become
the first district health board in New Zealand to become a commercial
customer for Pacific Edge's diagnostic cancer test Cxbladder. MidCentral will
be looking to provide patients with a better clinical outcome as well as make
considerable savings and efficiencies from its use.

Beginning in June, MidCentral DHB will begin evaluating 400 patients over a
24-month period to determine the clinical utility of Cxbladder to prioritise
at-risk patients, and establish the level of savings that can be achieved
from screening out patients who do not need a full and expensive urological
work up for bladder cancer. Typically less than five percent of those
patients who present to their clinician with micro-haematuria (non-visible
blood in urine of clinical significance) will be diagnosed with bladder
cancer.

Pacific Edge Chief Executive Officer David Darling says MidCentral DHB's goal
is to triage patients early by utilising Cxbladder - a test that enables the
detection of bladder cancer from a small volume of urine. Results from peer
reviewed multi-centre clinical trials of 485 patients published in the
prestigious Journal of Urology in the United States last year showed that
Cxbladder outperformed all other benchmark technologies and identified nearly
all tumours of interest to clinicians.

A full clinical work-up for bladder cancer is estimated to cost up to $2000.
If conservatively, 80 percent of patients presenting with micro-haematuria
can avoid the distress and inconvenience of a full bladder cancer evaluation,
the cost savings for MidCentral DHB would be significant and would enable the
more efficient use of DHB urological, clinical and pathology services."

"Applied across the country at other DHB's, the potential for savings within
the public health system would be considerable," David Darling says.

Recently, Health Minister Tony Ryall1 told district health boards that the
time taken to deliver the results of diagnostic tests is unacceptably long,
with patients in some instances waiting a year. He has set a "gold standard"
of a maximum turnaround of six weeks for diagnostics tests.

"Pacific Edge, with its capability to process up to 35,000 Cxbladder tests a
year through our Dunedin laboratory, is confident that it can assist district
health boards to exceed the Minister's target by a comfortable margin," David
Darling says. Cxbladder has a brand commitment to deliver test results to
clinicians and their patients within five working days.

Operations Director, Hospital Services at MidCentral Health Lyn Horgan said:
"Participation in the Pacific Edge Cxbladder program is seen as an exciting
opportunity which will clearly identify benefits for urological patients
presenting with micro haematuria.  The ability to undertake this diagnostic
test will result in patients at risk of urothelial cancer being diagnosed
earlier which potentially will improve the patient overall outcome."

Discussions are also underway with another New Zealand's district health
board to adopt Cxbladder as a diagnostic test for patients presenting with
macro-haematuria (visible blood in urine) and micro-haematuria. "In light of
these developments it is anticipated that other DHBs will be looking to take
advantage of this technology to improve patient outcomes and lower costs,"
David Darling says.

Cxbladder, the first commercial diagnostic cancer test launched by Pacific
Edge, has gained recognition for its accuracy from leading urology practices
in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

"Clinicians in all three countries are using Cxbladder as a quick, cost
effective and accurate measure to identify those patients presenting with
haematuria who have tumours requiring further treatment. Pacific Edge is
delighted that MidCentral DHB has taken the lead in identifying the potential
of Cxbladder to deliver higher standards of care and service to patients,
while also making more efficient use of  their resources."

1: Minister of Health Tony Ryall, media release 22 May 2013
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/focus-wait-times-diagnostic-tests

For further information please contact
David Darling
Chief Executive Officer
Pacific Edge Limited
P: +64 (3) 4795800

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 recently completed and released its
first product for the detection of bladder cancer, Cxbladder, and is actively
marketing the product to urologists in New Zealand, Australia, and USA and
soon to 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 Limited and Pacific
Edge Diagnostics USA Limited, and selected commercial partners in Australia
and Spain, Healthscope Pathology and Oryzon respectively.

www.pacificedgedx.com

ABOUT Cxbladder
Cxbladder is a non-invasive, accurate test that enables the early detection
of bladder cancer from a small volume of urine. It provides general
practitioners and urologists 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 recently published, Journal of Urology in September 2012,
multi-centre international clinical study recruited 485 patients from
Australia and New Zealand. Results show that Cxbladder out-performed all
other benchmark technologies in the clinical trial and detected nearly all of
the tumours of concern to a urologist; At 85% specificity, the test
sees 100% of T1, T2, T3, Tis and 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.

Tony Ryall
22 May 2013
Focus on wait times for diagnostic tests Health Minister Tony Ryall has told
district health boards (DHBs) to focus on improving waiting times for
diagnostic tests.
Mr. Ryall said even though thousands more diagnostic tests, such as MRI and
CT scans, are being performed under this Government - people in some parts of
the country are waiting too long.

"We want shorter waits for diagnostic tests. These tests help determine if
patients require an operation or other treatment. "Over the past four years
this government has significantly increased the number of people having
elective surgery and reduced the length of time people wait for a first
specialist appointment - our focus is now on reducing wait times for
diagnostic tests where there are unacceptable waits.

"We have set a "gold standard" of 95 per cent of patients receiving their
diagnostic tests in 6 weeks or less by 2015/16. DHBs have step measures over
the next three years to reach the gold standard.

"Currently 75 per cent of patients across the country are receiving their CT
scan within 6 weeks and just over half are receiving their MRI scan within 6
weeks.
"Most DHBs are doing well. However, in some areas, such as Dunedin, wait
times for non-urgent routine MRI scans can be up to 35 weeks.

"When we introduced a "gold standard" wait time for cancer treatment in 2009
some DHBs had unacceptable waits - however over the past few years we have
moved that up so all patients ready for treatment now wait less than four
weeks for radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatment."

Urgent and semi-urgent scans are dealt with much sooner. Non-urgent routine
MRI scans include scans for general check-ups after surgery or checking if a
family member with no symptoms is affected by a hereditary disease.

"This challenge is not new. In 2005 over 500 Canterbury patients were waiting
more than a year for an MRI scan. And Southland Hospital's radiology
department limped along for years with only half the radiologists needed to
run the service," says Mr. Ryall.

"In Budget 2012, the National Government announced plans to invest $16
million over four years for the faster diagnostic project to improve
reporting and access to diagnostic tests and reduce waiting times.

"As part of the project, DHBs are for the first time collecting wait time
data for a range of diagnostic tests to identify where there are hold ups in
their system and where they can make improvements.

"DHBs in most parts of the country are making improvements as a result of the
data. Capital and Coast DHB, for example, have increased the number of MRI
scans performed by 25 per cent in the second half of last year by increasing
their working hours, working closely with their neighboring DHBs, and
outsourcing some of the scans.

"Last year the Ministry of Health appointed Dr Alan List, a radiologist at
Auckland DHB, to lead this work. He is travelling around the country visiting
all DHBs to provide them with advice and support," Mr. Ryall says.

"We have achieved shorter waiting times for elective surgery and first
specialist appointments and with our focus now moving to waiting times for
diagnostic tests, I expect these to also reduce further."
End CA:00236858 For:PEB    Type:GENERAL    Time:2013-05-30 11:22:48