ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY) said it has inked an agreement with a US group and its affiliate to conduct clinical studies in prostate cancer.
The tie-ups with Solaris Health Holdings and MidLantic Urology could also provide a "potential route to market" in America, investors were told.
ANGLE will use its Parsortix system, which harvests tumour cells from a blood draw, to identify prostate-specific antigens (PSAs).
As well as detecting the presence of the disease, the device will be used to help doctors assess the severity of the cancer.
Expected to get underway in the third quarter, the evaluation will draw on earlier pilot studies independently conducted at the Barts Cancer Institute.
In total, 100 men scheduled to undergo a prostate tissue biopsy will be assessed over nine months with the headline data from the study expected next year.
“ANGLE's Parsortix platform has the potential to enable molecular characterisation of the cancer using a blood test in patients undergoing both traditional ultrasound biopsies and MRI fusion biopsies,” said Dr Jose Moreno, principal investigator, MidLantic Urology.
“The preliminary data suggest that we may be able to create an assay for the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer that has high specificity and sensitivity.
“Moreover, the assay can be customised to operate in a wide spectrum of prostate cancer disease states, including pre-prostate biopsy, after a negative biopsy, active surveillance, after local failure, and in early and late metastatic disease states.”
The tie-up with Solaris and MidLantic comes just days after ANGLE was awarded Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for Parsortix after successful trials in breast cancer.
Prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer in men and accounts for 13% of all new cancer cases in the US.