PEB enters commercial agreement with Canterbury DHB
World-first as Cxbladder moves to replace cytology in clinical guidelines
Cancer diagnostics company, Pacific Edge Limited (NZX:PEB) has entered into a commercial agreement to provide its
innovative Cxbladder diagnostic technology to the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) for primary care referral in
the evaluation of haematuria. Haematuria (blood in the urine) is a key indicator of bladder cancer and established
clinical guidelines are that all patients with haematuria receive a urological assessment to establish the cause. The 12
month agreement will, after an initial 200 tests, see the replacement of cytology in Canterbury’s HealthPathway for
patients with haematuria being assessed for the possibility of bladder cancer.
GM Planning and Funding at the Canterbury DHB, Carolyn Gullery said: “Canterbury District Health Board will use the
Cxbladder technology in its new haematuria HealthPathway. The Cxbladder test performance will be audited at the
conclusion of an initial 200 tests. The expected successful perfomance will see Cxbladder formally replace cytology on
the Canterbury DHB’s HealthPathways making it available through GPs to the thousands of patients cared for in the
Canterbury region.
“We believe that Cxbladder will help support our our strategy for delivering more care in the community closer to where
people live. It also has the potential to lower overall costs in evaluating haematuria and the detection of bladder
cancer. The Canterbury DHB has a track record of deploying innovative and progressive clinical solutions, and we are
delighted to offer this high performance New Zealand technology from Pacific Edge.”
The Canterbury HealthPathways are the main source of assessment, management and referral information about Canterbury
health services for community healthcare providers, and are used by 80% of general practitioners more than six times per
week.
Dr Peter Davidson of Urology Associates said: “Urology Associates has been involved in the evaluation of the Cxbladder
products for some time and, we enthusiastically support the adoption of Cxbladder Triage for use in our clinical
practice.”
An arrangement with the Canterbury integrated laboratory services will will see Cxbladder sampling systems readily
available to the region’s healthcare providers through an extensive network of laboratory collection centres (Canterbury
SCL and Canterbury Health Laboratories) and general practices throughout the region. Samples will be sent to Pacific
Edge’s Dunedin laboratory for analysis and fast turn-around of test results.
CEO of Pacific Edge, David Darling, commented: “We have a long working relationship with both Canterbury District Health
Board and Urology Associates and are delighted to be working with them to enable ready access to Cxbladder for patients
in the South Island. This is a comprehensive process involving the whole healthcare community and represents a first for
Pacific Edge in the formal provision of Cxbladder technology to replace cytology.”
ENDS