As health systems around the world struggle to contain costs, early detection of serious conditions, while they are less expensive and harrowing to treat, is becoming ever more important. A recent blueprint for the future of England’s NHS stated as a principal goal the need for earlier diagnosis of a range of killer diseases, from cancer to strokes.
A number of UK companies have developed techniques that seem set to place them at the forefront of this drive, not just in their domestic market but globally.
Angle
Guildford-based Angle, which has a market capitalisation of around £83m, has developed a novel form of liquid biopsy, which captures living cancer cells from the blood without the need to cut out tissue.
It is now poised to secure approval from the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, for the use of its patented system, Parsortix, to detect breast cancer that has spread elsewhere in the body.
Andrew Newland, chief executive, said: “In our area of liquid biopsy — harvesting cancer cells from a simple blood test — we’re on track to become the first-ever company that’s got an FDA clearance. That will then qualify us for the global market.”
A second study, intended to confirm the technology’s capacity to detect ovarian cancer, is also now under way in the US and it has been successfully tested in the field of prostate cancer.
Mr Newland said Angle was now “working extensively with multiple research groups associated with the NHS” including the Christie, a leading cancer hospital in Manchester, in conjunction with Cancer Research UK, and Barts in London.
The lossmaking company’s share price stands at 57.75p, having risen almost 20 per cent over the past year.
Cambridge Cognition
Another enterprise aiming to ease pressure on the NHS through more accurate detection of conditions is Cambridge Cognition, a neuroscience company.
Focused primarily on diseases of the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and psychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia and depression, it offers a large suite of computerised tests, which measure areas such as memory and reaction time to assess cognitive function.
Steven Powell, chief executive, said the tests and the science underlying them, emerged from the neuropsychology department at Cambridge university. The company’s work is focused particularly on “either large clinical institutions or large pharmaceutical companies, to provide measures of whether a particular intervention, whether it be drugs or counselling, is having an impact on the particular disease or disorder of interest,” he added.
Its products are also easing the strain on the NHS, he said, including one that allows GPs to determine whether a patient has a memory concern because “they are simply ageing” or because of something more serious, such as dementia.
That, in turn, “relieves a little bit of pressure on the . . . [hospital] memory clinics,” he added. The company’s share price stands at 71.7p, down more than 40 per cent over the past year after a delay in signing some large contracts — eventually concluded this year — caused the company to miss 2018 revenue expectations.
Its adjusted pre-tax loss was £1.5m last year compared with £70,000 a year earlier. The company has recently raised £2.5m in capital through a share issuance, to aid its expansion.
Medica Group
Medica, a teleradiology company whose market cap is around £166m, provides remote reporting of medical images such as MRI and CAT scans for clients, including the NHS.
John Graham, chief executive, said: “The key driver for our business is providing specialist, routine and out-of-hours cover, satisfying the gaps that exist in the UK market [where] there’s a significant shortage of consultant radiologists.”
The way its technology works, and the expertise of the radiologists it employs, means the company can turn round examinations within an average of less than 25 minutes. That is “phenomenal for the patients, particularly in an . . . emergency,” added Mr Graham.
The company delivered £39m in revenue in 2018, close to a 16 per cent rise on the previous year. It is starting to expand globally, having already set up a subsidiary in Australia. It is putting resources into New Zealand and one or two other markets.
Its shares stand at 145.75p, about 19 per cent higher than a year ago.
