Pacific Edge Announces New Commercial Partnership In Australia

Cancer diagnostics company, Pacific Edge Limited (NZX:PEB) has announced a new commercial partnership with Tolmar Australia Pty Limited, a specialised uro-oncology company which provides medicine and support to men with advanced prostate cancer.

Tolmar will provide sales and marketing for Pacific Edge’s Cxbladder tests in Australia, supported by the Pacific Edge team in New Zealand and the company’s Melbourne based in-country manager.

Tolmar has a team of eight highly skilled and specialised sales people across Australia, who work closely with urologists and cancer experts to market and sell its proprietary palliative treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. The new commercial arrangement with Pacific Edge will see Tolmar’s sales people encouraging trial and commercial use of Cxbladder with urologists.

Pacific Edge Chief Executive Officer, David Darling, commented: “Tolmar has well developed relationships in the uro-cancer community and is highly regarded by urologists and cancer experts. This commercial partnership between the two companies will provide greater awareness and access to Cxbladder for healthcare specialists and their patients in Australia.

“Our User Programmes continue to be a critical element in encouraging urologists to trial our products in their clinical settings prior to commercial use. We expect to see an increasing number of User Programmes in Australia going forward as we build our presence and look to boost commercial sales in this market.”

Tolmar Australia general manager, Dieter Torheiden, said: “Cxbladder technology provides an innovative and high performing suite of tests for the detection and better management of bladder cancer and we see them as providing significant value to the uro-oncology specialists that we work with on a daily basis.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity of working with Pacific Edge to promote Cxbladder to our customers across Australia.”

Bladder cancer has the ninth highest incidence rate in the world but is highly treatable if detected in the early stages. In Australia, an estimated 42,000 people present with haematuria each year, one of the early signs of bladder cancer, with nearly 3,000 people in Australia estimated to have bladder cancer in 2015[1]. A number of validation studies have positioned Cxbladder as a leading non-invasive diagnostic tool for the early detection and management of bladder cancer.

[1] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Cancer in Australia: An overview 2014 http://www.aihw.gov.au/cancer/cancer-in-australia-overview-2014/appendixb/#t4