Toronto, ON; February 27, 2014 – Proteocyte Diagnostics Inc. is pleased to announce that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the patent application entitled, Biomarkers for Head and Neck Cancers and Precancer. Allowance is the final step in the issuance of a patent.
The allowed patent application covers the discovery of the use of several protein biomarkers including S100A7, on which Proteocyte Diagnostics’ Straticyte™ technology for assessing the risk of oral lesions becoming cancerous is based. There is an urgent need to identify biomarkers for early and accurate assessment of oral dysplastic lesions at high risk of malignant transformation. This discovery is of immense importance for identifying patients in whom early intervention prior to cancer development will lead to more effective disease management and help reduce the current 40%-50% mortality rate in oral cancer patients. The more objective and accurate identification of lower risk lesions will avoid unnecessary traumatic and costly surgeries.
“This is excellent news for the company and supports our robust intellectual property position. This is an important step towards making Straticyte™, available to clinicians and patients for early and accurate diagnosis and treatment of head and neck cancer,” said Dr. Mario Thomas, Chief Commercialization Officer for Proteocyte.
About Proteocyte
Proteocyte Diagnostics Inc. is a Canadian molecular diagnostics company that develops and commercializes a novel diagnostics technology, Straticyte™ that offers objective and accurate early diagnosis of precancers and cancers. The company’s first product objectively and accurately distinguishes between those precancerous oral lesions at high risk of becoming cancerous and those that pose low risk. Early diagnosis of high risk lesions permits more effective and less traumatizing treatments. By identifying and treating oral cancer before it happens, clinicians can save lives, healthcare costs are reduced and quality of life of patients is improved. Identifying more accurately low risk pre-cancerous lesions avoids unnecessary surgeries and allows clinicians to monitor patients regularly for peace of mind.
For more information on Proteocyte Diagnostics, please visit https://proteocyte.com