Fast progress for Novigenix

Novigenix has been progressing fast lately, announcing several news. Can you present us in a few words what the company does? 

Novigenix develops proprietary and validated diagnostic workflows based on our LITOseek platform for the early diagnosis and disease monitoring for various cancer indications. Currently our focus is on colorectal and prostate cancers. Novigenix also provides diagnostic services to pharma companies for the discovery and development of precision diagnostic tests to measure patient response against therapy. 

Novigenix Colox is the first liquid biopsy test reimbursed in Switzerland for colon cancer screening through private outpatient supplementary insurance product offered by Helsana. Why is this announcement an important commercial milestone for your startup?

This was an extremely important milestone. Our Colox test has been on the Swiss self-pay market for several years, commercialized through Unilabs and Dr. Rich laboratories. Over 4,000 subjects have been tested, with each paying CHF 279 for the test ($275). Now we have the first contract with a private insurance company in place willing to reimburse everybody over the age of 50 at risk for colon cancer. The test is currently only available in Switzerland, but once we complete the development of the next generation test, ColoxPlus, we will start rollout of this across Europe and eventually also to the US.

Novigenix will partner with RadioMedix to Develop Neuroendocrine Cancer Precision Diagnostic Test. Why is this collaboration important?

For a company less than 4-years old, signing an agreement with Pharma is unique by itself. it shows the value and potential of our Immuno-Transcriptomic platform, LITOseek, for pharma companies developing new drugs and allowing them to carefully monitor the response of patients to treatment. This perfectly fits within the scope of our business bringing clinical oncology based diagnostic solutions to the market.

What are the next steps for your company?

The next steps for Novigenix are to complete the validation of the ColoxPlus test based on the new LITOseek platform. In order to do so, the company has initiated a screening validation trial with six major cancer centers in Europe. The study started in Q1 2019 and will enrol 1,600 subjects. In the meantime, we will also develop a new diagnostic application to measure the response in men being treated for prostate cancer. 

How many people does Novigenix employ at the Biopôle in Epalinges?

Novigenix has 10 employees. We are currently raising capital, which would mean we will quickly expand headcount in 2020.

 
(ES)