Download BioCytics, Inc. Grant Funding Press Release November 2010

Contact: Jennifer Montague
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone: 704-464-3249
November 5, 2010
Cell Phone: 704-728-6799
E-Mail: [email protected]
Address: BioCytics, Inc. 9801 Kincey Avenue Ste. 145
Huntersville, NC 28078
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BioCytics, Inc. receives a grant in support of its circulating tumor cell molecular profiling
efforts
HUNTERSVILLE, NC—BioCytics, Inc. is pleased to announce it has qualified for almost
$200,000 in grant funds from a new federal program stemming from the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act. These funds were approved in support of BioCytics’ efforts to develop a
Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) Molecular Profiling diagnostic test, which will provide molecular
profiling of CTCs. CTCs are tumor cells that have broken away from the main tumor and have
made their way into the patient’s bloodstream. In clinical studies, CTCs have been identified in
the peripheral blood of metastatic cancer patients. The enumeration of CTCs has been FDAapproved in breast, colon, and prostate cancer as a diagnostic test to predict prognosis and
overall survival. CTCs are also predictive as a real time marker of therapeutic efficacy.
BioCytics believes that molecular characterization of CTCs may allow for the development of
targeted cancer therapies.
Because each patient’s tumor cells are unique to him or her, analysis of every individual’s CTCs
will allow for a personalized approach to cancer treatment. BioCytics’ CTC Molecular Profiling
diagnostic test is designed to guide drug regimens based on the particular molecular makeup of
each person’s cancer. The biopharmaceutical industry has more than 850 targeted cancer drugs
in development. CTC molecular profiling would enable patients to be screened on the basis of
their cells’ molecular makeup and to then be rapidly placed into the appropriate clinical trial.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act created a new federal program in which funds
are provided to offset costs for specific “Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Projects.” One of the
BioCytics, Inc.
Grant Funding Press Release
November 2010
qualifying project categories are those designed to determine molecular factors related to
diseases or conditions by developing molecular diagnostics to guide therapeutic decisions.
About BioCytics: BioCytics, Incorporated, founded in 2005, is a privately-held biotechnology company
incubated at Carolina BioOncology Institute, a cancer treatment and clinical trial facility in Huntersville,
North Carolina. BioCytics is focused on personalized medicine, with a special emphasis on Circulating
Tumor Cells (CTCs). BioCytics has an open Western Institutional Review Board-approved clinical study
that allows the collection of CTCs and other tissue from cancer patients to facilitate the study of
personalized cancer treatment. In addition, BioCytics has developed a protocol for isolating CTCs from
mouse xenograft models.
More detailed information about BioCytics can be found at
www.BioCytics.com.
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