Pacific Edge named Top Bioscience Company in 2014

Pacific Edge has been named NZBIO’s top bioscience company for 2014. Pacific Edge was specifically recognised for building the profile and credibility of biotechnology and biotechnology companies in New Zealand.

The announcement of the industry accolade this week is further recognition for the Dunedin based cancer diagnostic company and comes a few months after taking the Supreme Award at the NZ Innovation Council Awards.

Pacific Edge Chief Executive Office David Darling says the Company is delighted to receive the recognition for the advances being made to the clinical capability for the detection and management of cancers. The company’s Urine Sampling System is becoming a core element of the advances in clinical utility, which can be used by the patient in-home to take a sample.

“It is rare in the biotechnology sector to have a company with the capability and resources to go from discovery science all the way through clinical trials and product development to finally making a commercial product as Pacific Edge has done with Cxbladder – our molecular diagnostic test for bladder cancer.”

Cxbladder is a non-invasive test with the Company’s easy to use Urine Sampling System becoming a core element of the advances in clinical utility, which allows patients can use at home. The sample is analysed in one of Pacific Edge’s laboratories for the tell-tale molecular markers that will provide the urologist with information on the probability of the patient having bladder cancer, or not.

Cxbladder is now available commercially in the United States through the company’s own CLIA and CAP regulated laboratory in Hershey, Pennsylvania. In the later part of 2013 the company signed three large, preferred national provider networks. These provider networks provide patients access to healthcare services and technology by contracting with providers and payers on a national basis. These three agreements signed with FedMed, ACPN and Stratose 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.

The custom built, commercial laboratory for Pacific Edge’s US subsidiary PEDUSA was completed in September 2012 to process Cxbladder samples, was certified in 2013 by CLIA and more recently by CAP, to enable the laboratory to offer Cxbladder as a Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) to clinicians and physicians.