TIDMNSCI
NetScientific PLC
13 March 2018
NetScientific plc
("NetScientific" or the "Company" or the "Group")
Vortex Biosciences and BioView Announce Collaboration for
Clinical Biomarker Identification on Circulating Tumor Cells
London, UK - 13 March 2018 - NetScientific plc ("NetScientific",
AIM:NSCI), the transatlantic healthcare IP commercialisation group,
notes that its portfolio company, Vortex BioSciences, has announced
a collaboration with BioView Ltd (TASE:BIOV), a provider of
automated cell imaging and analysis solutions.
The collaboration will enable Vortex and Bioview to create
integrated workflows that will allow the collection of intact CTCs
from blood samples to become part of the standard of care, with a
view to increasing the prominence of CTCs in the clinical space as
a diagnostic and monitoring tool. The aim of the collaboration is
to provide clinicians with deeper insights into cancer biology.
BioView (TLV: BIOV) is a publicly traded company on the Tel Aviv
Stock exchange, and currently has strategic collaborations underway
with international scientific leaders and institutions. Bioview
develops, manufactures and supplies cell imaging equipment, and
analysis software to medical institutes and universities. It
currently has several strategic collaborations with international
scientific leaders and institutions. BioView's circulating tumour
cell (CTC) application incorporates field-proven algorithms,
developed in collaboration with leading cancer research centers
worldwide.
The integrated VTX-1 and BioView workflow is currently being
used in several clinical studies focused on CTC enumeration, ALK
FISH rearrangements and PD-L1 expression on CTCs. PD-L1, in
particular, has been a focus of the collaboration because of the
potential clinical benefits. Overexpression of PD-L1 has been
identified as a pathway that metastatic tumor cells use to evade
immune detection.
Commenting on the news, Francois Martelet, Chairman of Vortex
BioSciences Inc. and CEO of NetScientific said: "This partnership
with BioView will allow automated identification of biomarkers
expressed by CTCs collected by Vortex's platform. This technology
has potential applications in the fast-evolving field of
immuno-oncology and the collaboration represents a critical step
for Vortex as it moves towards the clinical market."
# # #
For more information, please contact:
NetScientific Tel: +44 (0)20 3514 1800
François R. Martelet,
M.D., CEO
Ian Postlethwaite,
CFO
Consilium Strategic
Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
Mary-Jane Elliott / netscientific@consilium-comms.com
Jessica Hodgson /
Chris Welsh / Laura
Thornton
Stifel Nicolaus Europe
Limited (NOMAD and Broker) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7710 7600
Jonathan Senior / David
Arch / Ben Maddison
Vortex Biosciences Tel: +1 (0) 415 823 7649
Steve Crouse steve@vortexbiosciences.com
About NetScientific
NetScientific is a transatlantic healthcare technology group
with an investment strategy focused on sourcing, funding and
commercialising technologies that significantly improve the health
and well-being of people with chronic diseases. For more
information, please visit the website at www.netscientific.net
MEDIA CONTACT
Steve Crouse
415-823-7649
steve@vortexbiosciences.com
Vortex Biosciences and BioView Announce Collaboration to Develop
Integrated Workflow for Clinical Biomarker Identification on
Circulating Tumor Cells
CTC PD-L1 Expression, CTC Enumeration, ALK Rearrangements in
CTCs Among Initial Biomarker Targets
MENLO PARK, CA, March 12, 2018 - Vortex Biosciences, a leading
provider of circulating tumor cell (CTC) isolation systems, and
BioView Ltd. (TASE:BIOV), a provider of automated cell imaging and
analysis solutions, announced a collaboration today to develop an
integrated workflow for identifying clinical biomarkers on
CTCs.
Tumor biopsies are currently used for identifying diagnostic
biomarkers that inform cancer patient treatment. Tumor biopsies,
however, are invasive, costly, capture only a select subset of
tumor cells in the patient, and are very challenging to perform
multiple times during a patient's treatment to monitor the cancer
status in the patient. CTCs offer a better alternative. They are
collected from a low cost, non-invasive blood draw, allowing for
ongoing monitoring of the cancer status.
Furthermore, CTCs enter the blood stream from all of the
different tumor sites in a patient, making the sample more
representative of a patient's cancer biology than a tissue biopsy.
Vortex Biosciences and BioView are integrating their best in class
technologies to create a workflow for the isolation and
characterization of CTCs to provide clinical insights to
physicians.
The simple to use, fully automated VTX-1 Liquid Biopsy System
automates the isolation of CTCs directly from whole blood. The
VTX-1 utilizes a proprietary microfluidic chip to stably trap and
capture CTCs in micro-scale vortices based on their size and
deformability while the red and white blood cells are removed. The
isolated CTCs can then be deposited on a specially designed glass
slide for analysis. The CTCs adhere to the glass slide with high
affinity making characterizing assays like immunostaining or FISH
possible.
BioView's state of the art Duet imaging system and proprietary
CTC analysis algorithm automates the identification and biomarker
analysis of CTCs on a glass slide. The CTC analysis algorithm was
developed in collaboration with leading cancer research centers
worldwide, utilizing cellular and biomarker signals to improve the
sensitivity and accuracy of CTC detection and reduce analysis time.
In order for CTCs to have true clinical utility, an automated,
high-throughput system with specialized algorithms for the
detection of the cells is critical.
"We are delighted to collaborate with BioView to develop
solutions for the clinical characterization of CTCs," said Gene
Walther, Chief Executive Officer at Vortex Biosciences. "A
fundamental part of our strategy is to partner with analytical
leaders to create integrated workflows that allow for CTCs to
become part of the standard of care."
"We are excited to be working with Vortex Biosciences to move
the characterization of CTCs into the clinical market," said Dr.
Alan Schwebel, President and CEO at Bioview. "The imaging platform
we have developed will provide the simplicity needed for CTCs to
achieve their clinical potential."
The integrated VTX-1 and BioView workflow is currently being
used in several clinical studies focused on CTC enumeration, ALK
FISH rearrangements and PD-L1 expression on CTCs. PD-L1, in
particular, has been a focus of the collaboration because of the
potential clinical benefits. Overexpression of PD-L1 has been
identified as a pathway that metastatic tumor cells use to evade
immune detection.
Immunotherapy based on inhibition of PD-1 or PD-L1 represents a
breakthrough in the treatment of advanced cancers. PD-L1 expression
levels on tumor biopsies have been demonstrated to be a reasonable
biomarker for stratifying patients that will respond better to
immunotherapy treatments. Vortex and Bioview believe measuring
expression on CTCs can offer more clinical value as it enables
monitoring the cancer over time in a cost effective, low risk
manner. Vortex and BioView have developed an assay that allows
researchers to assess the presence of PD-L1 on CTC surfaces. The
belief is that the assay will be able to be used to perform initial
diagnoses and to monitor changes in PD-L1 expression during
treatment leading to more targeted therapeutic treatment.
The combination of state of the art CTC isolation with CTC
specific imaging algorithms opens new paths for the
characterization of CTCs to realize their clinical potential.
About Vortex Biosciences
Vortex Biosciences is a cancer research and diagnostics company
that integrates cancer biology, microfluidic engineering and
informatics to develop tools for isolating and characterizing
circulating tumor cells. The Vortex VTX-1 instrument harvests
intact circulating tumor cells from whole blood samples for use in
downstream research and clinical applications such as patient
stratification in clinical trials, monitoring disease progression
and drug treatment effectiveness. With a mission to enable
noninvasive diagnosis of cancer and real-time monitoring throughout
a patient's treatment, Vortex is at the forefront of accelerating
cancer research and improving patient outcomes. Vortex is a core
subsidiary of NetScientific plc, a transatlantic healthcare
technology group with an investment strategy focused on sourcing,
funding and commercializing technologies that significantly improve
the health and well-being of people with chronic diseases. For more
information, visit www.vortexbiosciences.com.
About BioView Ltd
Established in 2000, and led by an expert team of biologists,
software engineers and physicists, BioView develops, manufactures
and supplies cell imaging equipment, and analysis software to
medical institutes and universities. BioView is a publicly traded
company on the Tel Aviv Stock exchange, and currently has strategic
collaborations underway with international scientific leaders and
institutions. For more information about the BioView technology,
and press related issues, please contact alan@bioview.co.il or
visit our website at www.bioview.com
# # #
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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