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Sunderland cancer diagnosis pioneers scoop £750,000 investment

Medical diagnostics firm UroSens Ltd, who have a base in Sunderland, has entered into clinical trials of its prostate and bladder cancer tests thanks to £750,000 of investment.

Funding from Netherlands-based Esperante, Northstar Ventures’ Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) mean the firm can develop its urine test for cancer detection.

UroSens will work with over 1,2000 patients at four UK hospitals to carry out the clinical studies.

Dr Ian Campbell, CEO at UroSens, said: “These are significant steps forward for our company. We are grateful to our existing shareholders, Northstar Ventures and Esperante for the investment.

“Alongside our successful TSB grant application, this new funding enables us to progress with clinical trials and increase the pace of our commercial development.”

According to the company there are over 40,000 new cases of prostate cancer and 11,000 of bladder cancer each year, and current diagnostics are unreliable, leading to unnecessary biopsies.

The UroSens technology is intended to reduce the need for biopsies and also curtail the costs involved in these procedures.

Dr Alex Buchan of Northstar Ventures said: “Bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, with the highest recurrence rate of any malignancy. We are delighted to have invested in UroSens, with its pioneering detection tests and technology, and I look forward to working with the UroSens team.”

Dean Slagel of Esperante added: “Esperante is delighted to have invested in UroSens, which offers a novel and potentially ground-breaking urological cancer diagnostic being developed under the leadership of an experienced and high calibre management team. We look forward to continuing to support UroSens through to commercialisation.”

The Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund is backed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .