SINGAPORE – (ACN Newswire) – Biolidics Limited (“Biolidics” or the “Company”), a medical technology company with a focus on cancer diagnostic solutions, is pleased to announce that its laboratory partner in China, Hunan Agen Medicine Laboratory Technology Co., Ltd. (“Hunan Agen Lab”), will start offering the LDTs (related to circulating tumour cells (“CTCs”)) as clinical services to cancer patients, using Biolidics’ ClearCell(R) FX1 System and CTChip(R) FR1 biochips.
Serving various hospitals in Hunan Province including two major hospitals, Xiangya Hospital Central South University and Hunan Cancer Hospital, Hunan Agen Lab provides multidisciplinary diagnostics, including clinical cellular and molecular genetics, clinical pathology, clinical immunology, clinical biochemistry, and advanced equipment such as Next Generation Sequencing.
Demand for such LDT services is expected to lead to increase in demand for ClearCell(R) FX1 System and higher usage of CTChip(R) FR1 biochips which are required to perform the test.
The analysis of CTCs, as employed in Biolidics’ ClearCell(R) FX1 System, has been noted to be the most highly developed technique in liquid biopsy, as the presence of CTCs is a fundamental prerequisite to metastasis. Metastasis is responsible for an estimated 90% of cancer deaths and it is the process where cancer cells spread through the blood and lymph systems from the place where they first formed.
Based on its disruptive, patented technology, Biolidics has developed and commercialised the ClearCell(R) FX1 System that allows users of the system to perform liquid biopsies to test for the presence of cancer cells in blood samples or perform further analysis on cancer cells.
Using a small amount of blood sample, the LDTs offered by Hunan Agen Lab have the potential for many applications throughout the various stages of a patient’s cancer journey, such as cancer screening, cancer staging and post-cancer monitoring.
As a result, cancer patients can minimise invasive procedures, improve clinical outcomes, and optimise cost and efficiency with the LDTs that utilise Biolidics’ technology.
According to a report by American Cancer Society Cancer published on 6 July 2017, cancer is the leading cause of death in China, with 4.3 million new cancer cases and 2.8 million cancer deaths estimated each year. As of 2017, China has more than 31,000 hospitals according to statista.com.
Biolidics currently derives revenue from the sale of its ClearCell(R) FX1 System, the accompanying CTChip(R) FR1 biochip and other consumables to academic and research institutions, hospitals and laboratories, which use its ClearCell(R) FX1 System.
Mr. Ivan Lew, Executive Director and CEO of Biolidics, said: “Hunan province has a population of approximately 68 million and the two established and highly-reputable hospitals in Hunan, served by Hunan Agen Lab, have been providing comprehensive health care services to the general public for several years.
Utilising our proprietary technology and products, the new LDTs offered by Hunan Agen Lab marks an important milestone as it can be offered as clinical services to cancer patients, enabling physicians to have holistic, accurate and real-time diagnoses with just a blood sample.
Building on this momentum, we are exploring further strategic tie-ups with other laboratories in other parts of China to utilise our ClearCell(R) FX1 System as a liquid biopsy platform technology.”
About Biolidics Limited (Bloomberg Code: BLD:Singapore / Reuters Code: BIOL.SI / SGX Code: 8YY)
Incorporated in 2009, Biolidics is a Singapore-based medical technology company focusing on the development of cell enrichment systems which, when combined with other analytical tests, have a wide range of applications for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, treatment selection and treatment monitoring.
Biolidics has developed and commercialised the ClearCell(R) FX1 System, a fully automated IVD medical device which relies on a novel patented technology to separate and enrich cancer cells from blood.
The ClearCell(R) FX1 Systems, installed across Asia, Europe and North America, allows users of the system to perform liquid biopsies to test for the presence of cancer cells (specifically circulating tumour cells, or CTCs) in blood samples or perform further analysis on cancer cells.
Liquid biopsies (i.e. analysis of the circulating tumour cells in blood samples) have many applications throughout the various stages of a patient’s cancer journey, from cancer screening and staging to personalised treatment, and post- cancer monitoring.
Biolidics’ quality assurance capabilities have been recognised through its ISO 13485 certification, CE-IVD, US FDA Class I registration and NMPA (formerly CFDA) Class I registration (for the MGI EasyCell System). For additional information, please visit www.biolidics.com.
Issued on behalf of Biolidics Limited by 8PR Asia Pte Ltd.
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