B.C. company developing urine cancer test

VANCOUVER – A B.C. company is in the final stages of testing a simple and new way of detecting cancer.

Biomark Diagnostics, based in Richmond, has been testing a way to detect cancer with a urine sample. After six years of research at four universities across Canada, the test is entering its final stages of clinical trials.

“The key thing for us really is to really have early diagnosis, because the outcomes are much, much better,” said Rashid Ahmed, from Biomark Diagnostics. “Survival rates are always much better at early detection levels, so that’s where our technology is really taking us.”

To use this test, the patient would take one dose of an already approved drug called amantadine. When cancer cells are present, that drug is chemically changed to a particular enzyme. “Two to four hours later, you collect the urine sample, it’s sent to a lab at this point, and that’s where the analysis of the urine sample happens to look for the elevation of the enzyme,” said Ahmed.

If given final Health Canada approval, eventually all medical labs will be able to offer the test. Right now the testing labs are located in Manitoba and Bangladesh.

Biomark also wants to release test kits, which can be used in hospitals and clinics. They are hoping an at-home kit will not be far behind.

Studies show that up to half of people who get cancer are diagnosed late. So far, this enzyme test has been able to successfully detect Stage One tumours in several cancers, including lung cancer.

– With files from Elaine Yong