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(Alliance News) - Angle PLC on Wednesday noted positive results from a study of its Parsortix system in small cell lung cancer.
Parsortix is Angle's liquid biopsy technology, meaning it harvests circulating tumour cells from the blood rather than from the tumour directly.
The study, which was conducted by the Medical University of Vienna, looked at neuroendocrine markers on circulating tumour cells harvested using Parsortix and found that they correlated "with patients' poor overall survival".
Small cell lung cancer is an aggressive cancer, with the majority of patients presenting with a metastatic disease when they are first diagnosed - meaning the cancer has already spread to another part of the body.
Using Parsortix could allow faster diagnosis and allow for repeated biopsies during treatment. It is not usually possible to conduct multiple biopsies on lung cancer patients given the "invasive injury to the patient" and high costs.
Analysis of the harvested cells can also be used to choose drugs and determine the potential effectiveness of new targeted treatments.
Angle Chief Executive Andrew Newland said: "Lung cancer is a major opportunity for Angle to pursue once we have concluded our current [US Food & Drug Administration] and verification studies in breast cancer and ovarian cancer. We are encouraged by the work of Vienna, and others, in this area. There is a clear benefit to lung cancer patients in faster diagnosis, longitudinal monitoring and reducing invasive procedures as well as a strong health economic argument to reduce healthcare costs."
Shares in Angle were up 0.25 at 68.33 pence in London on Wednesday afternoon.
