Lung cancer spreads quickly, which helps it claim more lives each year than any other cancer worldwide and makes early detection key. Now, two companies have teamed up to bring a diagnostic test to some of the countries they say need it most.
Kindstar Global and Israeli company BioView have inked a pact that grants Kindstar exclusive rights to implement BioView's FISH test, which analyzes sputum samples from high-risk subjects, in China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan--countries among those that have the highest incidence of lung cancer in the world, BioView CEO Alan Schwebel says. The companies are hoping to make a dent in the mortality numbers in those countries; estimates say lung disease causes more than 575,000 deaths per year in China, with fewer than 20% of new lung cancer cases caught in the early stages.
"This test has promise to become a valuable diagnostic and prognostic tool for determining the risk of lung cancer for many patients, but particularly for smokers and will help broaden Kindstar's oncology test menu offering," said Dr. Shiang Huang, Kindstar's founder and CEO, in a statement.
Under the agreement, Kindstar will buy equipment and kits from BioView for three years, with an option to automatically renew the bargain if the pair meets certain benchmarks. The bargain follows a successful Kindstar study that used the BioView assay, the Israeli company said.
For BioView, the pact offers an opportunity to "partner with … one of the leading laboratories for esoteric testing in China," Schwebel said in a statement. Kindstar, which calls itself the first and largest esoteric diagnostic testing business in China, provides lab testing services to more than 3,300 Chinese hospitals and operates in every Chinese province. "This agreement will be used as a model to offer the BioView lung cancer test in other countries worldwide," Schwebel said.
BioView isn't the only company looking to Kindstar to help it capitalize on China's fast-growing market. Over the summer, sequencing leader Illumina ($ILMN) teamed with the company for a chance to expand emerging markets growth with its TruSight technology.
- read the release