China's acceptance of the patent, Detection of Gastric Cancer, means it joins New Zealand, Australia and Europe in recognition of Pacific Edge's intellectual property rights.
Pacific Edge chief executive, David Darling, said Pacific Edge had ''achieved a significant milestone'' with recent commercialisation and US regulatory approval to launch its Cxbladder, a non-invasive test for bladder cancer.
Pacific Edge is starting to staff its $4.5 million laboratory in Hershey, Pennsylvania, to provide capacity to process up to 260,000 bladder-cancer tests annually.
A year ago Pacific Edge shares were languishing around 20c but hit a record 79c high in March and yesterday were trading around 66c.
While the US is the world's largest health market, Mr Darling said China had one of the highest incidences of gastric cancer.
''The granting of the patent in China is a further addition to the company's suite of intellectual property. That includes accurate tests for the diagnosis and prognosis of several hard-to-detect cancers including those of the bladder, alimentary tract, stomach and melanomas,'' Mr Darling said in a statement.
In China about 400,000 new cases of gastric cancer were detected each year and 300,000 deaths resulted from it.
''Almost two-thirds of gastric cancer cases and deaths occur in less developed regions, including East Asia and South America,'' Mr Darling said.
He said that in addition to the recent US approval, Cxbladder was now being marketed in New Zealand and Australia and soon in Spain, which has the world's highest incidence of bladder cancer.
