iCellate Medical receives orders for clinical CTC services from major institutions and adds valuable sequencing competence to the company

Stockholm, Sweden – May, 2016 – iCellate Medical today announced two clinical collaborations with renowned cancer scientists in Sweden. Firstly professor Matthias Löhr at Karolinska institute will test for the occurrence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in pancreas cancer patients before surgery, secondly MD, PhD Peter Cashin at Akademiska Hospital in Uppsala will evaluate the clinical relevance of measuring levels of CTCs and to test their genetic properties pre, during and post HIPEC (hypothermal intraperitoneal chemotherapy) treatment in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) from colorectal cancer.

Pelle Redare, the CEO of iCellate, is very satisfied to see an increased demand for the company’s services. “These collaborations clearly show that our technology is ready for clinical practice in a research setting, when scientists are willing to pay for our services. These client partnerships extend over 5 years and increasing volume are expected to generate significant revenue.

iCellate is also happy to announce the strengthening of the team by adding Hamid Sharifi, PhD. Hamid brings an extensive experience in genetic diagnostics and will head the project of RNA-sequencing and thereby the downstream analysis of the isolated CTCs. By sequencing RNA it is possible to clearly distinguish false positive CTCs, potentially making it easier to find the primary tumor, and to map the damaged genes that may benefit from new targeted therapies.

(1)Matthias Löhr, http://ki.se/people/matloh

(2)Pancreas cancer is an aggressive type of cancer with a rapid progression and high mortality. There are usually no symptoms in the disease's early stages, and symptoms that are specific enough to suspect pancreatic cancer typically do not develop until the disease has reached an advanced stage. By the time of diagnosis, pancreatic cancer has often spread to other parts of the body.Efforts are underway to develop new drugs. Some of these involve targeted therapies against the cancer cells' molecular mechanisms. Research on early detection is also ongoing, but has yet to provide a workable screening strategy. CTC isolation and analyses may guide targeted therapies and support screening.

(3)]Peter Cashin, http://katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N4-574