Preora Diagnostics to Commercialize Cancer Pre-screening Tests
Evanston, IL (PRWEB) September 03, 2015 -- NanoCytomics LLC today announced the formation of Preora Diagnostics Inc., a privately held medical technology company that will bring low-cost cancer pre-screening tests to primary care physicians in the United States and other select markets worldwide.
Preora’s proprietary and automated technology platform detects and measures cellular changes at the nanoscale level. The cellular changes have been successfully tested as potential new biomarkers in more than 1,650 patients in seven different cancer types. Preora’s academic partner, Northwestern University, conducted the tests with the company’s proprietary Partial Wave Spectroscopy (PWS) nanocytology platform.
“The war on cancer will benefit greatly from a two-tiered approach to early detection. Preora’s pre-screening tests will serve as the first step, enabling primary care physicians to identify which high-risk patients warrant additional testing for a particular cancer, and which patients can forego the costs and potential complications of cancer screening,” said Preora President and CEO John W. Hart. “In so doing, the second tier – traditional, gold-standard cancer screening tests – will be reserved for people more likely to be facing a cancer diagnosis. If necessary, these patients could begin treatment sooner, which often can improve clinical outcomes and survival rates.”
Preora anticipates high adoption rates in this multibillion-dollar market because its minimally invasive pre-screening tests will be accurate, effective, low-cost, convenient and easy-to-use during routine physical exams.
First Test Targets Lung Cancer
Due to the lack of a convenient, cost-effective screening test and therefore limited early detection, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States, with over 150,000 deaths a year. To address this unmet medical need, Preora is targeting lung cancer for its first pre-screening test.
“Our test requires a simple cheek swab to collect buccal cells that are then placed in solution and shipped to the Preora lab for testing. The cheek cells are deposited on a slide, processed and then analyzed with the automated PWS microscope,” said Preora Chief Technology Officer Hariharan Subramanian, PhD, a co-founder of the PWS technology platform. “PWS software generates test outcomes, sending a corresponding HIPPA-compliant report to the prescribing physician for review and consideration of next steps.”
Preora intends to introduce its lung cancer pre-screening test as a Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) in late 2016. Other pre-screening cancer tests are in development.
The PWS Technology Platform
Cancer is caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal (mutated) cells in a part of the body. The current gold-standard approach to diagnose cancer is to send biopsied cells to a lab, where a pathologist looks for cellular changes at the microscopic (“micro”) level. Preora’s proprietary, automated Partial Wave Spectroscopy (PWS) technology platform examines cells at the nanoscale (“nano”) level, where mutations and cellular changes can be detected long before they are evident at the micro level.
PWS-based tests detect field carcinogenesis (aka, field effect, fertile field, field of injury), the condition necessary for cancer to evolve, making it possibly an important and clinically significant biomarker. In some cases when found early enough, pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions can be removed to prevent future malignancies.
Intellectual Property
Preora has an exclusive license to commercialize cancer pre-screening tests using the PWS nanocytology developed in Dr. Vadim Backman’s Northwestern University Photonics laboratory. The Company has five issued patents and has filed non-provisional applications, which together cover all key aspects of the platform, from the principles of technology to specimen processing to clinical use. The Company anticipates filing additional patents on the improved PWS autofocusing and cell selection modules.
About Preora Diagnostics
Preora Diagnostics is a medical technology company focused on commercializing low-cost, minimally invasive and highly sensitive pre-screening tests for several cancers. The tests are simple enough to be performed in a primary care office without any extensive preparation. The pre-screening tests are based on the proprietary Partial Wave Spectroscopy (PWS) nanocytology platform, licensed exclusively by Preora through its parent company (NanoCytomics LLC) and Northwestern University. For more information, visit http://www.PreoraDx.com.
Jed Weiner, White Oak Communications, Inc., +1 (847) 910-1330, [email protected]
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