Medtech startup set to revolutionise cancer diagnostics

Singapore

A SINGAPORE-based medtech startup that is looking to bring low-cost, simple-to-use cancer diagnostics tests to the masses, is set to revolutionise the global cancer diagnostics market that is projected to hit some US$168.6 billion in 2020.

VolitionRx has developed a blood-based - therefore non-invasive - test platform that can potentially diagnose a wide range of cancers including colorectal and prostate, two of the most common cancers affecting men and women globally, The Business Times has learnt.

On Jan 7, the company filed for an "uplisting" on the New York Stock Exchange that would supersede its existing listing on the US's OTC Bulletin Board since October 2011, and potentially raise up to US$12 million.

Founded in 2010, Volition had chosen to make Singapore its headquarters because of the Republic's sophisticated healthcare system and reputation as Asia's medtech hub, said chief executive Cameron Reynolds. Its proprietary NuQ diagnostics platform, powered by nucleosomics technology, works by identifying and measuring nucleosomes in one's blood, an indication that cancer is present.

"Short of a cure (for cancer), screening or testing is the next best thing," said Mr Reynolds. Blood-based tests are the future of cancer diagnostics, he added, as their non-invasiveness will urge more people to get tested earlier, increasing their chances of early treatment and recovery.

At present, existing tests to detect colorectal cancer are highly invasive and expensive. Colonoscopy, for instance, uses a flexible tube about finger-thickness - attached to a small video camera - which is inserted through the rectum into the colon, and can reportedly set one back by S$500-1,000 in a public hospital, or as much as S$1,200-3,700 in a private one.

"The percentage of people in Singapore who have undergone colonoscopy is low (even though) colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in Singapore. Screening is vital and it does save lives," said Cheong Wai Kit, senior consultant at the National University Cancer Institute's Division of Surgical Oncology.

Volition has also recently partnered the Singapore General Hospital for a pilot study on ovarian cancer, in what will be its first study involving Asian patients. Said Jake Micallef, Volition chief scientific officer: "This pilot study is incredibly important for us. If the pilot results are favourable and we successfully commercialise the test, we intend to set up a Centre of Excellence in Singapore to service the whole Asian region with regard to screening for ovarian cancer, a cancer for which early detection is crucial."

This comes as clinical trials in Europe and the US - involving close to 25,000 patients - are already showing promising results for Volition's technology. Its NuQ platform is found to be able to accurately detect 84 per cent of colorectal cancers at 78 per cent specificity; 80 per cent of prostate cancers at 70 per cent specificity; and 84 per cent of early, surgically treatable pancreatic cancers at a high 92 per cent specificity. If successful, it can determine up to 12 types of cancer and yield significant cost savings for cancer testing the world over, due mainly to its ability to operate on existing standard lab equipment, said Mr Reynolds.

Volition is now focused on getting its technology to market first in Europe, the US and then Asia.