A fledgling life sciences company has obtained an exclusive licensing agreement with the BC Cancer Agency for a device that aims to detect lung cancer earlier than current methods.
Vancouver-based T-Ray Science Inc. (TSX-V:THZ) said Tuesday the lung cancer detection device, known as the Verisante Core series, has been clinically tested on more than 50 patients with “excellent” results.
The BC Cancer Agency developed the device and tested it in collaboration with the Lung Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.
The deal means the company can use the device for early lung cancer detection in addition to skin cancer, gastrointestinal tract cancer and cervical cancer detection, for which the company had already obtained the rights.
“While our skin cancer detector will be our first device to market, securing the rights to lung cancer detection is important because of the prevalence of lung cancer, which is the No. 1 cause of all cancer deaths,” said Thomas Braun, T-Ray’s CEO.
He also said the lung cancer detector will be the company’s second product to market.
T-Ray explained that current lung cancer detection methods require surgical biopsies, but the Verisante Core system uses non-invasive spectral biomarkers to determine if a lung lesion is malignant or benign.
“It is critically important to have an optical biopsy system such as the Verisante Core device to help make informed surgical biopsy decisions, because endoscopists and surgeons do not want to take unnecessary biopsies of lung tissue,” said Stephen Lam, co-inventor of the device.
At press time, T-Ray’s share value was unchanged at $0.22.