NEW YORK (360Dx) — NuView Life Sciences has signed an agreement to evaluate its NV-VPAC1 urogenital cancer test on Aperture Bio's screening platform, the company announced today.
The test uses proprietary peptide analogs to detect overexpression of NV-VPAC1 — a peptide construct that binds to cancer cell membranes — in urine or blood samples. Park City, Utah-based NuView is initially developing it for prostate cancer but is also exploring its use in uterine, renal, and bladder cancers. The technology was licensed from Thomas Jefferson University.
Under the terms of the deal, the companies will assess the use of the test on Williston, Vermont-based Aperture's automated RAPID-B platform, which uses robotic flow cytometry to identify and count targeted cellular material in bodily fluids.
Additional terms were not disclosed.
"Although our first validation studies focused on bacteria and white blood cells, we believe our proprietary platform and algorithms could perform equally as well identifying other cellular types like voided urine prostate cancer cells or bladder cancer cells detected by the NuView biomarker," Aperture Cofounder and Chief Medical Officer Matthew Gombrich said in a statement. "Automating these applications could offer an improved method for annual or semi-annual screening protocols."