Counties Manukau Health to Adopt Cxbladder Tests for Application Across the Clinical Pathway

Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge (NZX: PEB) has received notification from Counties Manukau District Health Board (CMDHB) regarding adoption of the suite of Cxbladder cancer diagnostic tests for use across the clinical pathway.

From September, Cxbladder will be incorporated into the standard of care by CMDHB across the bladder cancer pathway from investigation of haematuria (blood in the urine) and initial diagnosis, through to post-treatment surveillance.

Counties Manukau is New Zealand’s second largest DHB and serves an estimated population of over half a million people, representing approximately 12% of New Zealand’s population.

Brent Pownall, VP Commercial and Franchise at Pacific Edge, said: “This is a big step forward for Cxbladder in New Zealand and for the urology patients in the Auckland region. We are aware of lengthy waiting times for patients referred to CMDHB for investigation of haematuria and based on our experience with Cxbladder in other DHBs, and the growing body of peer-reviewed clinical publications, we are confident that Cxbladder will have a significant impact on the timeliness and quality of care for these urology patients.”

The agreement with Counties Manukau follows successful commercial implementation by a number of New Zealand DHBs. Canterbury, Waitemata, MidCentral and BOP/Lakes DHBs have incorporated Cxbladder into their clinical pathways for urology services and are now routinely using the tests. This reflects the growing recognition of Cxbladder by large healthcare organisations, both in New Zealand and internationally.

Pacific Edge CEO David Darling, said: “The addition of Counties Manuakau DHB to the list of New Zealand’s public healthcare providers who have adopted Cxbladder commercially, provides further evidence of the broad clinical buy-in from New Zealand’s urologists who are now routinely using Cxbladder. The New Zealand public healthcare system is leading the way with the adoption and integration of Cxbladder into their standard of care where more than 50% of the population now have ready access to Cxbladder through their local DHB.”