NetScientific PLC (AIM:NSCI) said it completed the acquisition of a 30% stake in Vortex Biotech Holdings – a company targeting the multi-billion dollar liquid biopsy market.
Leading the development of the business and its technology, which captures circulating tumour cells, will be new chief executive Paul Jones.
He comes from Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN), the genome sequencing specialist, where he was the head of population genomics.
There he led the team that created, developed and actively managed large-scale programmes across more than 50 different countries.
"I've worked for many years to enable a vision of affordable population health,” said Jones.
“Recent developments in liquid biopsy will enable earlier disease detection, support personalised medicine and allow far easier ongoing disease monitoring - making this vision a realistic prospect even in the short term.
“It is a privilege to be given the opportunity to lead Vortex and show how we can make a real difference for patients suffering from cancer across the world."
Vortex’s VTX-1 platform, which identifies the early tell-tale signs of cancer, has been used by key opinion leaders and research centres in the US, UK and EU. It is also garnering interest from the biotech and pharma industry.