CellMax Life Inc (合度精密生物科技) yesterday launched a blood-testing service in Taiwan that focuses on screening for early-stage cancer.
The company’s flagship product, CellMax CRC-Protect, is a multi-biomarker blood test aimed at the early detection of colorectal cancer.
The product has been used by more than 500 patients at a number of local hospitals, including Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (林口長庚紀念醫院).
“We aim to transform cancer care away from expensive, intractable late stages to early, more treatable stages,” CellMax Life co-founder and chief operating officer Atul Sharan told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Much of the biotechnology sector focuses on expensive late-stage drugs that might not be accessible in developing countries, while survival rates for patients with late-stage cancer diminish rapidly, Sharan added.
The company’s proprietary CMx technology platform screens for cancer by detecting traces of circulating early-stage tumor cells that are shed from the primary tumor site into the bloodstream, CellMax science team chief Shao Hung-jen (邵宏仁) said.
Abnormal cells should be detected by the screening product before they turn into precancerous cells and metastasize, Shao said.
The platform uses a biomimetic, lipid-bilayer coated microfluidic chip to identify circulating tumor cells cells in patients’ blood samples, Shao said.
As the test requires a blood sample, it is an attractive option for patients who are averse to fecal occult blood tests, stool samples or colonoscopies, Shao said.
However, the test is not intended to replace existing examinations, but is designed to be used as an additional diagnostic tool by physicians, Shao said.
A woman said in a testimonial video that after using a CellMax screening product and consulting her physician, she agreed to have intestinal surgery that removed eight polyps and minimized her chances of contracting colon cancer.
Chao recommended that people who are at high risk of developing colon cancer undergo annual screening, adding that each of the firm’s tests costs about NT$15,000.
CellMax’s other products include testing of genetic risk, liquid biopsies and recurrence monitoring.
The company also announced US$9 million in series A-1 venture funding to scale commercial operations of its blood test product portfolio.
The funding was led by Silicon Valley-based Artiman Ventures and several Taiwanese venture investors, including Acer founder and former chairman Stan Shih (施振榮).
The company has so far accumulated US$14 million in venture capital.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
RSS