The US, with its potential for tens of millions of bladder cancer tests and follow-ups, is Pacific Edge's prime target this year, as it strives to overcome a four-to-one cash burn and generate more revenue from its US operations.
International journal Urological Oncology has accepted a scientific and clinical paper for publication validating the performance of Pacific Edge's Cxbladder Monitor test, which follows a similar publication acceptance in the American Journal of Urology.
Pacific Edge chief executive David Darling said the paper compared the performance of the Cxbladder Monitor test, one of three in the market, with other commonly available urine markers and cytology for surveillance of patients with bladder cancer.
He said the paper, based on a Clinical Research Organisation-managed study with data from more than 1100 US patient samples, found the Cxbladder Monitor test ``significantly outperforms'' the current Food and Drug Administration-approved urine-based monitoring tests.
``The paper concludes that this performance signals a step change in clinical utility for urologists managing patients in a surveillance regime for recurrence of the disease,'' Mr Darling said.
While having overcome regulatory hurdles and clinched several contracts with leading US health organisations, which have millions of patients on their books, it is the thousands of urologists Pacific Edge must next impress to get its tests more widely used.
In mid-February Pacific Edge completed an $8million share placement to institutional investors, at an undiscounted 50c per share, to buoy its cash in hand, which had declined from $24million at the end of the last financial year to $9million in mid-February.
The boost is expected to carry Pacific Edge through to 2018, with recent monthly cash-burn hovering around $1.2million.
