Arquer Diagnostics Ltd, Sunderland, UK, has been awarded £70,000 under Innovate UK’s Biocatalyst program, to be distributed over a 12-month period, starting March 1, 2017. The funding will be used to support preparations for an international clinical study to evaluate Arquer’s MCM5 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based noninvasive test for prostate cancer, as the company expands the application of its technology into a wider range of cancers.
Arquer’s diagnostic test, the MCM5-ELISA, detects the presence of minichromosome maintenance (MCM) protein, a marker for the presence of dividing cancer cells, to diagnose cancer accurately. MCM proteins are directly involved in cell replication, and are shed into urine by both prostate and bladder tumors.
The study will utilize urine and semen samples from up to 100 patients, in order to inform the design of a wider clinical trial expected to commence in late 2017.
“There is an urgent need to find, and robustly validate, a novel cancer biomarker of prostate cancer,” says Stuart McCracken, PhD, consultant urologist at Sunderland Royal Hospital and UK clinical investigator for the study. “Studies such as this provide evidence that may support a change in the diagnostic pathway and start to allow reductions in expensive and unnecessary prostate biopsies, which are very unpopular with patients and are a major financial burden to healthcare providers.”
Nadia Whittley, Arquer Diagnostics.
“We are delighted that Innovate UK has identified the potential opportunity provided by our diagnostic test, particularly as we move forward to commercialize our MCM5 ELISA,” says Nadia Whittley, CEO of Arquer Diagnostics. “The MCM5 ELISA is expected to significantly reduce the number of patients undergoing invasive and costly diagnostic procedures such as cystoscopy and biopsy, as it offers highly accurate diagnostic results from small amounts of body fluid.”
For more information, visit Arquer Diagnostics.
