Public Funding for Glycoscoredx Limited

In the UK, one in eight men will get prostate cancer within their lifetime. The prostate is a gland only men have, which helps makes semen. As men get older the prostate can become larger. In many cases this change is normal, however it can be an early sign of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer develops when cells in the prostate gland grow in an uncontrolled way. Some prostate cancers grow slowly and don't cause any problems, but others grow quickly and need treatment to stop them spreading. Currently, men who have symptoms of prostate cancer will have a blood test to detect 'Prostate Specific Antigen' or PSA. If your PSA result comes back positive, then you will be referred to a specialised doctor (called a Urologist), and recommended to have a 'prostate biopsy'. A prostate biopsy involves collecting tissue samples from the prostate using needles. These tissue samples are then looked at under a microscope to identify changes in the cells that could be cancer. Prostate biopsies are invasive, can be painful and carry the risk of infection, incontinence and erectile dysfunction. A raised PSA level can be a sign of prostate cancer, but many men with raised PSA levels don't have prostate cancer, and some men with a normal PSA level do have prostate cancer. This means that many men are having invasive procedures, such as biopsies, that are unnecessary and carry risks while others have their disease missed. Newcastle University has developed a new blood test called 'GlycoScore' that is more accurate than other available tests, including PSA. The GlycoScore test can detect unique changes in blood that are altered in men who have prostate cancer. GlycoScore will drastically reduce over-diagnosis so that only men with a high risk of prostate cancer need to undergo biopsies. This will improve care for patients and also provide cost savings for health care systems. In addition, GlycoScore will also speed up diagnosis, identify aggressive cancers sooner and potentially save lives. We have discussed GlycoScore with patient groups, GPs, clinicians and healthcare providers and have identified a large and unmet market need for our test. Innovate UK are supporting the establishment of a new spin-out company called 'GlycoScore_D__x_ Ltd' that will finalise the development of the GlycoScore diagnostic test so that it can be made available as soon as possible for the benefit of patients in the UK and worldwide.