Pacific Edge Adds India To Its Growing List Of Patents

Pacific Edge has been granted patent protection in India for its Cxbladder technology. This comes several weeks after being granted patents for 38 countries in Europe for the same technology that enables the accurate and non-invasive detection of urothelial carcinomas.

Pacific Edge Chief Executive Officer David Darling says India is the second largest country in terms of population. Its incidence rates of bladder cancer are reportedly also very high - not helped by the high levels of tobacco that continues to be consumed, which does increase the likelihood of bladder cancer.

David Darling says: "While it is important for the Company to seek patent protection in key jurisdictions, our main focus continues to be building sales momentum in the US, the world's largest healthcare market, where we have just now started into our second year of commercial operations. Laboratory through-put is tracking to the company's expectations following an active direct sales and marketing program to clinicians and healthcare organisations. Pacific Edge Diagnostics USA has twelve dedicated sales executives operating in key geographic regions."

Meanwhile Pacific Edge has been rapidly extending its portfolio of intellectual property based on its molecular diagnostic technology with the recent grant of patents in the US for the prognosis of melanoma, in Japan for the prognosis of colorectal cancer and in China for the detection of gastric cancer.

"Extending and further developing our intellectual capital is essential for the long term commercial success of the Company and the creation of additional value for shareholders," David Darling says.

Further developments of the Cxbladder technology are underway with the next product, Cxbladder Triage due to be released in the US this year after its successful launch in New Zealand. Cxbladder Triage allows clinicians to segregate patients who have presented to their healthcare provider with haematuria (blood in the urine, an early indicator of possible bladder cancer) who have a low probability of having urothelial carcinoma. The use of this new product Cxbladder Triage provides upside and cost saving for the patient, the clinician and the healthcare system to exclude a significant proportion of these patients from having to have a full clinical work-up for bladder cancer that is both expensive and invasive.