Quebec and British Columbia-headquartered BioMark Diagnostics Inc (OTCMKTS: BMKDF) (CNSX: BUX) was praised for its lung cancer screening innovation at an awards ceremony last week. The prestigious accolade came at the end of Lung Cancer Awareness Month.
Quebec’s Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) presented the medtech operator with the Quebec Respiratory Health Research Network Innovation Award at the Association for the Development of Research and Innovation in Quebec (ADRIQ) Innovation Awards Gala, in Montreal.
BioMark collaborated with Canadian divisions of AstraZeneca plc (NASDAQ: AZN) (LON: AZN) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) (ETR: PFE) on the project. Together, they established a valuable biobank comprised of blood samples and medical imaging data from over 3,000 people. This initiative also validated the efficacy of BioMark’s patented AI-integrated blood biopsy tool.
Their work has enabled BioMark’s blood test to be clinically evaluated on thousands of subjects to improve its accuracy and develop highly accurate predictive algorithms.
“We took advantage of access to a unique cohort of patients screened for lung cancer to structure it, compile clinical data, and collect biological samples,” explained lead researcher Dr. Phillipe Joubert.
A collaboration with the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute Research Centre and a government grant of C$4.42 million propelled their studies.
“This resource, made available to researchers in Quebec, will foster new scientific discoveries and stimulate innovation,” Joubert added.
BioMark likes to believe that the award has de-risked its screening system and will assist with building credibility needed to rollout the tool throughout Canada. Commercialization is set to begin in Quebec next year.
“Thanks to the efforts of all these partners, a new tool for screening lung cancer will soon be accessible to Quebecers,” said Christine Fréchette, Quebec Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy.
CQDM, the organization responsible for administering the project’s government funding, has highlighted that BioMark’s Lung Cancer Metabolite Panel test can help reduce costs associated with current approaches to lung cancer screening.
It accomplishes this by complementing low-dose CT screening through reducing false positives and unnecessary biopsies.
In the lung cancer screening sector, BioMark is joined by a handful of companies that have pioneered minimally invasive, inexpensive and radiation-free testing tools. Kentucky-based Breath Diagnostics, creator of the OneBreath breath analysis system; sputum/phlegm screening tool developer bioAffinity Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: BIAF); and other blood biopsy specialists such as Guardant Health Inc (NASDAQ: GH) (FRA: 5GH), Grail Inc (NASDAQ: GRAL) and Exact Sciences Corp (NASDAQ: EXAS) (FRA: EXK) are also worthy of note.
BioMark’s blood draw uses metabolomics to analyze biomarkers such as metabolites that are associated with lung cancer. It differs from the more orthodox circulating tumour DNA analyzing blood biopsies that are being employed today. The Canadian oncology company has multiple patents for intellectual property associated with its metabolite detection and quantitation methods.
Read more: Breath Diagnostics leaders promote their mission at Miami investment conference
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