2nd Jun 2014 09:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - EKF Diagnostics Holdings PLC Monday said it has taken a major step towards detecting cancer cells in blood samples, and has appointed a new technology boss.
Separately, EKF said it has appointed Tito Bacarese-Hamilton as its new Chief Technology Officer. Bacarese-Hamilton joins from Johnson & Johnson franchise LifeScan Scotland Ltd - where he served as Vice President of research & development for new products & platforms - with immediate effect.
EKF, which has been working with GILUPI, the medical device company focused on isolating rare cells from patients' blood streams, said the first results a collaboration between the two companies has demonstrated the detection of gene mutations from as few as three or less cells isolated in a model in vitro system and from the blood of lung cancer patients. PointMan DNA Enrichment was used to detect and analyse cells that had been collected.
Studies that are in vitro refer to those which take place outside a living organism, such as in a test tube, while in vivo studies are those taking place inside a living organism.
Separately, EKF said it has appointed Tito Bacarese-Hamilton as its new Chief Technology Officer. Bacarese-Hamilton joins from Johnson & Johnson franchise LifeScan Scotland Ltd, where he was Vice President of research & development for new products & platforms, with immediate effect.
"These results are a clear indication of the utility of PointMan DNA enrichment on low cell numbers, in this case those isolated using the GILUPI CellCollector both in vitro and in vivo. We look forward to continuing this important work with GILUPI to validate our findings," EKF Chief Executive Andrew Webb said in a statement.
"This achievement is in line with the company's vision to change current DNA extraction and detection practices and address the fast growing companion diagnostics market. Current collaborations focus on the unmet requirements for patient monitoring from peripheral samples negating the requirement for a surgical procedure to obtain a tissue biopsy and screening for early cancer diagnosis," Webb added.
GILUPI co-founder and Chief Executive Klaus Luecke said the results represent a major step for future testing and monitoring of cancer patients.
"The isolation and subsequent characterisation of low numbers of circulating tumour cells from the blood of cancer patients will become increasingly important as a liquid biopsy as a method to monitor disease progression and response to therapy," Luecke said.
"We hope that less-invasive and more frequent testing will become routine using our combined technologies with significant patient benefits. GILUPI is looking forward to further cooperation with EKF Molecular Diagnostics to continue to build the evidence base for the combined technologies," Luecke added.
EKF shares were Monday quoted at 25.75 pence, up 3.5%.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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