miR Scientific and Puerto Rico Government Announce Pioneering Cooperation Agreement to Evaluate Impact and Deployment of its Prostate Cancer Liquid Biopsy Test in Puerto Rico
NEW YORK and SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Nov. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- miR Scientific, LLC, a healthcare company whose purpose is to transform global cancer management, and the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration ("ASES") announced today the signing of a cooperation agreement aimed at evaluating the clinical and economic utility of the miR Sentinel™ PCC4 Assay (miR Sentinel™ Prostate Test) and its potential impact in Puerto Rico.
The agreement memorializes the explicit intent of deploying the Company's Sentinel™ Prostate Test commercially in Puerto Rico in an effort to alleviate the disease burden of prostate cancer on the Island. San Juan Bautista School of Medicine will appoint the principal investigator to oversee the utility studies.
"The prevalence and economic burden of prostate cancer in Puerto Rico are debilitating and the Puerto Rico government is keen on deploying the most innovative solutions in the fight against prostate cancer," said Jorge Galva, Executive Director of ASES. "The breakthrough Sentinel™ PCC4 Assay developed by miR Scientific is non-invasive and can very accurately detect prostate cancer and as well as classify the risk category of the disease based only on a single urine specimen and without the need for invasive biopsies. This will allow us to manage the disease much better, allocate resources more efficiently, and focus on high-risk patients who are in need of definitive treatment quickly" he said.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the most common cause of cancer death among men in Puerto Rico. The current standard of care for the diagnosis of prostate cancer relies on inaccurate PSA blood tests and invasive rectal examinations to trigger invasive, painful, high-risk, and costly core needle biopsies, which for the most part are unnecessary. Due to these shortcomings, current standards are only utilized by a small fraction of the age-eligible male population in Puerto Rico, further compounding the healthcare and economic burden of the disease and limiting the opportunity to identify dangerous cancers earlier to allow for better outcomes.
miR Scientific's award-winning miR Sentinel™ Prostate Test is a standalone, non-invasive liquid biopsy urine test that can, from a single urine specimen, accurately detect molecular evidence of prostate cancer and then classify the severity, or the risk grade, of the malignancy. The proprietary high-throughput technology is based on the interrogation of small-noncoding RNAs (sncRNAs) extracted from urinary exosomes and has recently been awarded the Breakthrough Device Designation by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
"We are fortunate and proud to commit to the long-term success of Puerto Rico's emergence as a center of excellence for population health. Puerto Rico is well equipped to confront any challenge based on the exceptional dedication and talent of its medical ecosystem, at the heart of which are extraordinary doctors and an enlightened health system ready and able to embrace innovation and transformation" said Sam Salman, miR Scientific's Chairman & CEO. "We are confident that our proactive and multifaceted collaborations in Puerto Rico will measurably improve outcomes in the war against cancer, and in doing so, contribute to the emergence of Puerto Rico as a leading center for medical innovation."
The miR Sentinel™ Prostate Test is expected to be commercially available in the United States early 2021 and in select markets in Europe and Asia late 2021.
About miR Scientific:
miR Scientific, LLC is a healthcare company whose purpose is to transform global cancer management by providing early and highly accurate detection, characterization, and monitoring of disease. The Company has developed a proprietary, non-invasive platform for the effective disease management of urological cancers. The platform is powered by the miR Sentinel™ Prostate Test, a liquid biopsy urine test that can accurately detect, classify, and monitor prostate cancer based on the interrogation of small-non-coding RNAs extracted from urinary exosomes. miR Scientific is the only company with the interoperable products and services necessary to revolutionize the standards of care supporting urologic oncology, including for prostate, bladder and other urothelial cancers. Such new standards are much needed given the debilitating prevalence and disease burden of such cancers globally. miR Scientific is a majority-owned operating subsidiary of Impact NRS LLC, headquartered in New York City with operating subsidiaries in Israel, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
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SOURCE miR Scientific, LLC
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