Pacific Edge signs agreement with America's Choice Provider Network to expand access to Cxbladder in the US

Pacific Edge has signed an agreement with America's Choice Provider Network (ACPN) to provide more Americans access to Cxbladder. ACPN offers a medical network solution for more than 14 million Americans through its client base consisting of insurance carriers, third party administrators, health and welfare funds, employer groups and self-insured health plans. This follows Pacific Edge's recent announcement of the agreement with FedMed providing 40 million Americans with access to Cxbladder.

Pacific Edge Chief Executive Officer David Darling says agreements with FedMed and now ACPN form key elements in the commercial roll-out of Cxbaldder in the US.

Pacific Edge through its wholly owned subsidiary Pacific Edge Diagnostics USA (PEDUSA) has already achieved the first commercial sales of Cxbladder in the US and has processed samples collected using its proprietary Urine Sample System at its custom built laboratory in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

"These provider networks provide patients access to healthcare services and technology by contracting with providers and payers on a national basis. These two recent agreements signed with FedMed and now ACPN will give millions of Americans access to Cxbladder and its positive benefits as a quick, cost effective, non-invasive and highly accurate cancer detection test that is particularly appealing to US healthcare professionals, patients, and insurers" said Jackie Walker, Chief Executive Officer of PEDUSA.

"PEDUSA's sales and marketing team is focussed on the clinicians who are treating the largest number of bladder cancer patients. They are also focussed on the large commercial payers and the Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which provides healthcare insurance for 100 million people or nearly a third of the American population. Other key sales targets include Integrated Healthcare Systems, comprising many providers and facilities while offering a wide variety of health insurance plans, the Veterans Administration (VA), and Large Urology Groups (LUGS), who are the point of contact for many patients presenting with haematuria (blood in the urine) which is an early indicator of possible bladder cancer."

More than one million Americans will undergo medical investigation this year for potential bladder cancer at an estimated cost of $US1 billion. Bladder cancer is one of the most expensive cancers to treat. The very high recurrence of this disease, requiring some patients to receive expensive monitoring for the rest of their lives, causes bladder cancer to have the highest total medical costs of any cancer from detection to death. In the US, the total medical cost approaches $US220,000 per patient.