Cerca Biotech and Sysmex announce major MammaTyper® European distribution agreement
Cerca Biotech, the company behind MammaTyper®, the innovative breast cancer diagnostic assay, have signed a multi-market European distribution agreement with Sysmex Europe SE. The agreement means that MammaTyper® will form part of the Sysmex Life Sciences portfolio in 13 European markets, including the UK, Ireland and much of mainland Europe. It follows on from successful partnerships for Cerca Biotech with distributors based in Italy, Turkey and Switzerland.
What have we been up to in January?
We got 2023 off to a great start with our MammaTyper® International Distributor Meeting on 12th and 13th of January in Venice. Our distributors brought a wealth of clinical and technical expertise from the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Romania, Israel and Greece. Our community benefitted from pathology and oncology talks from eminent clinicians, who presented the latest updates to the MammaTyper® evidence-base. Professor Abeer Shaaban attended the day: find out more about her work in breast pathology on our blog.
Interview: Professor Abeer Shaaban: consultant breast pathologist
Professor Abeer Shaaban is a specialist consultant breast pathologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham. She has led a number of research studies and contributed to landmark breast cancer trials. Dr Shaaban recently led a study with a team of researchers from the UK and Egypt comparing MammaTyper® ® RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assessment on needle core biopsies of breast cancer. We spoke to Professor Shaaban about her life-saving work and her role in this piece of research.
Stage 4 breast cancer: treatment advances
Breast cancer tissue is assessed at diagnosis to determine treatment approach and prognosis. Whilst stage 4 or metastatic breast cancer is classed as incurable, treatment options that can prolong life are becoming available. However, we need to ensure that diagnostic technology used in labs keeps pace with advances in treatment, so that those with this late-stage cancer can access these innovative therapies
MEDICA and EBCC: Rich’s Conference Diary
Cerca Biotech was well represented last week at both MEDICA 2022 and the EBCC13 meeting in Barcelona. Interest in MammaTyper® at MEDICA; the interest was for both our MammaTyper® RT-PCR breast cancer subtyping assay and the newly released CercaTest Pre-eclampsia Vue™ point of care test. Breast cancer innovation showcased at EBCC The 13th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC) in Barcelona saw clinicians involved in breast cancer care from across Europe and beyond descend on Barcelona for a three-day meeting.
New multigene breast cancer test could speed up accurate diagnosis for women, evidence suggests
Three new research studies have concluded that MammaTyper could provide a reliable, efficient, and reproducible alternative to the molecular subtyping of breast cancer tumours.
Research Project N.1 from Univ. Birmingham (UK)
Breast cancer biomarkers help clinicians determine a patient’s breast cancer sub-type. This plays a vital role in tailoring treatment effectively. Newer multigene tests such as MammaTyper® go further in assessing intrinsic properties of breast cancer tumours that impact on tumour behaviour.
Research Project N.2 from Portugal
Traditionally, breast cancer prognosis is determined using immunohistochemistry (IHC). With the development of genomics (the study of the genes in our DNA), molecular subtyping became available, enabling clinicians to better decide on the best treatment approach for patients.
Research Project N. 3 from Zhejiang University School of Medicine (China)
Traditional immunohistochemistry (IHC) methods may not offer precise differentiation between HER2-negative and HER2-low tumours. This could be due to human differences in interpretation for example. Some patients who may benefit from this new life-extending treatment may not be picked up using IHC and therefore will not have access to it
Cerca Biotech: November update
November is a busy month for the team at Cerca Biotech. We will be in Dusseldorf, Germany for MEDICA 2022, 14-17 November. To add to the fun we are also presenting the same week at the European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC) in Barcelona, Spain, from the 16th to 18th November.
November is a busy month for the team at Cerca Biotech
At EBCC we’re presenting exciting new research, as part of the ‘optimal diagnosis’ sessions. The data compares MammaTyper® to traditional immunohistochemistry (IHC) from three different reference centre cohorts in needle core biopsies of breast cancer.
Treatment for triple-negative breast cancer will now be available for patients in England
The rapid diagnosis, subtyping and identification of tumours, including those that are triple-negative, is key to the fight against breast cancer. Today, NHS England announced a deal to roll-out the drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) for patients with triple-negative breast cancer
World Evidence-Based Healthcare Day: why the research and the people behind MammaTyper® matter.
The development of robust and trustworthy medical evidence relies on global collective efforts: researchers around the world have long known this.
Low HER2 breast cancer: progress in treatment needs progress in diagnostics.
If you’re in the breast cancer world, then you’ve undoubtably been following the exciting developments in the treatment of HER2-low breast cancers. At Cerca Biotech, it’s our mission to help identify all breast cancer patients who can be treated with these new therapies.
October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month
It’s October, which means it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. This journey starts with accurate diagnosis: and that is where MammaTyper® comes in.
Ki-67; Love it or Hate it?
Ki-67 is a great aid in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of cancers. If you are a patient looking for more information, you might find this article a bit technical, but you can still head on over to cercabiotech.com for our patient-focussed information which we hope can help.
World Pre Eclampsia Day (May 22nd)
Early diagnosis of Pre-Eclampsia can save lives. Yet, definitive detection of this potentially fatal condition can be delayed or difficult to access under current testing regimes. To help combat this issue, Cerca Biotech is launching a new, rapid point-of-care test designed for use in maternity departments and primary care settings.
MammaTyper® announces registration in Italy
We are really pleased to announce that MammaTyper® has been registered by the Ministero della Salute in Italy. This marks a key step towards bringing this innovative, RT-qPCR test to the Italian market and helping women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. This announcement follows our earlier news that Padua-based firm AB Analytica will be the exclusive distributor for MammaTyper® in Italy.
March 8th - International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women everywhere. This year, the focus is on how to #breakthebias that women see in many aspects of their lives.
New Distribution Agreements
We are really pleased to announce that we have signed exclusive distribution agreements with four key European partners in the last month.