Dunedin-based firm Pacific Edge has taken heart from an independent peer review of its test for detecting bladder cancer.

Chief executive David Darling said the review of the company's Cxbladder test had been published in the prestigious American Journal of Urology.

The peer reviewed scientific paper had been published by the journal online ahead of publication in the September print edition, which circulates to an estimated 18,000 members of the American Urological Association and other urologists around the world.

The paper, "A Multigene Urine Test for the Detection and Stratification of Bladder Cancer in Patients Presenting with Hematuria" found that the non-invasive Cxbladder test had the ability to detect nearly all tumours of concern to urologists, he said.

The findings in the paper, written by scientific and medical specialists, are based on an international, multicentre clinical study involving 485 patients in Australasia who presented with hematuria or blood in urine, an indication of possible bladder cancer.

The research team analysed the results of initial testing undertaken by cystoscopy (physical inspection of the urinary tract and bladder), cytology (urine analysis), uRNA (a forerunner of Cxbladder ) and NMP22 .

The results cited in the scientific publication compare Cxbladder with these other commonly used bladder cancer detection tests.

Follow-up tests, 12 months later, on patients who had tested negative as a result of the benchmark cystoscopy inspection but positive by Cxbladder also revealed that three of the patients had tumours, two of which were in an advanced state and likely to have been present for some time.

Darling said this ability of Cxbladder to identify these individuals provides a strong back up for clinicians.

This morning Pacific Edge shares were trading 1 cent or 5.26 per cent higher at 20 cents, following the announcement of the bladder test.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Comments