PEB
09/06/2015 14:47
GENERAL
NOT PRICE SENSITIVE
REL: 1447 HRS Pacific Edge Limited
GENERAL: PEB: Tan Tock Seng Hospital User Program for Cxbladder
9 June 2015
Tan Tock Seng Hospital User Program for Cxbladder
NZX-Listed Pacific Edge Limited has taken an important step into accessing
the significant South East Asian medical market with the signing, by Pacific
Edge, of a User Program agreement with one of Singapore's largest hospitals.
The agreement with Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) will see the trial use of
Pacific Edge's signature Cxbladder product Cxbladder Detect on a significant
number of patients. The User Program allows the urology team at Tan Tock Seng
to gain a full understanding of Cxbladder on their patients in their clinical
settings. The company is expecting to work with several other leading
hospitals and clinics in Singapore on the way to a full rollout of a
commercial operation there.
Pacific Edge Chief Executive Officer David Darling said: "Singapore is an
important beachhead market for us. Tan Tock Seng Hospital is one of a number
of major hospitals in the South East Asian region that we are looking to
partner with. Certainly we see South East Asia as an important area of growth
for us and the early work we have completed shows strong promise. Some of the
funds we are looking to raise through our recently announced underwritten
rights issue will be applied to driving the commercialisation of Cxbladder,
along with our other cancer diagnostic products, in this region."
Brent Pownall, Pacific Edge Diagnostics NZ, Commercial Directors says "Like
most regions around the globe bladder cancer is a real issue in SE Asia. We
are delighted to work with such a high profile hospital like TTSH in
Singapore as we learn more about our products in this region. Apart from the
expected local demand for people presenting with haematuria there is also an
extremely large and growing medical tourism market in South East Asia where
patients seek an annual wellness check-up. A Cxbladder Triage test could be a
potential addition to the wellness work-up for these people. In 2012 there
were approximately 350,000 medical tourists visiting Singapore; in 2014 the
number grew to more than 900,000. Estimates are that this number will reach
1.4 million by 2018. So there is significant opportunity here for us."
TTSH is one of Singapore's largest multi-disciplinary hospitals with 170
years of pioneering medical care and development and a very progressive
urology team The hospital has 40 clinical and allied health departments, 16
specialist centres and is powered by more than 7,000 healthcare staff. TTSH
sees over 2,000 patients at its specialist clinics and some 460 patients at
its emergency department every day. TTSH is also part of the National
Healthcare Group, providing holistic and integrated patient care.
With a strong quality culture steeped in patient safety, TTSH constantly
challenges itself to provide faster, better, cheaper and safer care for
patients. To achieve this, the hospital keeps abreast and believes in
investing in its staff, facilities, medical technology and system
improvements. In recognition of its commitment to excellent patient care and
its comprehensive range of quality healthcare services, TTSH has been awarded
the ISO 14001 and OHAS 18001certification as well as the prestigious Joint
Commission International accreditation, a key component for being able to
provide services to international patients who may be seeking treatment or
medical services in Singapore.
David Darling said the TTSH User Program agreement is another significant
milestone for the company as it seeks to build commercial momentum by
increasing its presence in key markets.
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 Detect
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
New Zealand, Australia and the USA. Cxbladder Detect is available in the USA
and NZ as a laboratory Developed Test (LDT) from the company's CLIA certified
laboratories, providing physicians and clinicians with a quick, cost
effective and accurate measure of the presence of the cancer, and provides
urologists with an accurate and reliable adjunct to cystoscopy. The Cxbladder
Detect cancer detection test has been validated by a multicentre,
international clinical study.
www.cxbladder.com
ABOUT Cxbladder Triage
Cxbladder Triage is a novel molecular test that combines the power of the
genomic biomarkers with extra phenotypic biomarkers to accurately identify
patients with haematuria who have a low probability of bladder cancer and
potentially reduce or eliminate the need for a full-urological work-up. This
is a tool for use by clinicians and physicians in the primary evaluation and
is intended to reduce the number of patients needing an expensive and
invasive work-up for urothelial cancer.
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. Timely detection and regular
surveillance and monitoring of this cancer is a key element of the clinical
process and of the individual's annual healthcare plan.
End CA:00265430 For:PEB Type:GENERAL Time:2015-06-09 14:47:41
