The AIM-listed healthcare technology incubator, NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI), said one of its investee companies had struck a deal with Harvard University.
Vortex Biosciences has been granted a series of licences for cell electroporation technology developed by Harvard researchers that will boost its ability to analyse circulation tumour cells (CTCs).
The patents will also “significantly strengthen” Vortex’s intellectual property base, NetScientific said in an announcement Wednesday.
Chief executive Francois Martelet: “The exclusive license of these new patents from a world leading research institution will significantly increase the ability of Vortex's technology to characterize CTCs and strengthen its ability to analyse the underlying drivers of a patient's disease as the VTX-1 moves towards commercialisation."
The VTX-1 system, introduced earlier this year, offers one of the most sophisticated ways to collect and analyse CTCs, which provide the early, tell-tale signs of the onset of cancer.
Being able to identify and capture CTCs allows earlier intervention; it may also hold the key to a personalised approach to treating the killer disease, academic research has shown.