Prostate Cancer Pee Test to Launch this Year

Source: cabume .co .uk

A company aiming to replace the uncomfortable and invasive biopsies used to detect prostate and bladder cancer with a simple urine test expects to launch its first product this year following the closure of a £2 million funding round.

The investment will be used to expand Urosens’ commercial and technical teams, finalise product development and begin to commercialise its diagnostic test, the UroSens Mcm5-ELISA, for prostate and bladder cancer.

The new test is based on intellectual property licensed exclusively from Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the development and commercialisation arm of Cancer Research UK. It focuses on Mcm5 (minichromosome maintenance complex component 5), a protein which only appears when cells divide, and is regarded as an excellent marker for the presence of dividing cancer cells.

Urosens is also seeking to undertake further clinical trials in Europe and the United States to expand the applications of the Mcm5 test. In addition, UroSens will continue the development of a Point-of-Care version of the Mcm5 test.

Dr Ian Campbell, CEO at UroSens, commented: “This investment round will enable us to expand our team and bring our novel assay to the market, providing patients with a simple non-invasive test for both bladder and prostate cancer.”

Urosens raised £530k in equity investment in June 2013.