VolitionRx is a publicly traded life sciences company that is developing innovative solutions for blood-based diagnostics for different types of cancers. The company believes that current diagnostics techonologies are inadequate, so is focusing its efforts on developing earlier, more cost-effective methods of diagnosing cancers.
At the basis of VolitionRx’s development efforts is Nucleosomics®, the company’s proprietary, non-invasive technology that measures nucleosomes of particular structures within human blood. When cells die, they release nucleosomes into the blood. VolitionRx has developed methods of identifying nucleosomes of cancer origin, providing a medical opportunity for actual cancer detection. Dr. Jake Micallef, VolitionRx’s Chief Scientific Officer, says that there are many cancer diagnostics tests available that only detect a patient’s risk of cancer. By being able to detect nucleosomes of cancer origin in a patient’s blood, Nucleosomics goes further than these current measures’ capabilities: it detects whether cancer is actually present.
Currently, VolitionRx is focusing its development efforts on colorectal cancer, one of the deadliest cancers in the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2010 over 130,000 people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the United States. The American Cancer Society reports that the chance of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer increases as a person ages: some 9 out of 10 patients who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer are over 50 years of age.
This age trend is medically relevant considering the longer lifecycles of today’s aging populations. Americans are living longer than ever – requiring greater medical attention to remain healthy. Every day an additional 10,000 Americans reach 65 years of age. With these increased requirements for sophisticated and readily available medical care, the healthcare sector needs medical technologies that are inexpensive, accurate, and scalable—especially in regard to cancer diagnostics.
VolitionRx aims to fill this medical gap by developing diagnosis methods that are more likely to detect cancer in its early stages, instead of the later stages of affliction when patient survival rates drop. In short, by making early-stage cancer detectable, VolitionRx’s diagnostic tests will substantially increase a patient’s chances for cancer survival.
Backed by the efforts of a business-savvy corporate and scientific management, VolitionRx may be on the cusp of changing mainstream methods for cancer diagnosis in the United States—and the world.
For more information, visit: www.volitionrx.com
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