Vigilant Biosciences Inc. (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) has announced it has entered into a three-year exclusive sales and marketing agreement with Crown Dental + Medical Limited (Aukland, New Zealand) for the distribution of the OncAlert Oral Cancer Risk Assessment System in New Zealand.

The OncAlert Oral Cancer Risk Assessment System includes the following:

• OncAlert Oral Cancer Rapid Point-of-Care Risk Assessment Test (OncAlert POC Test)
• The OncAlert Oral Cancer CD44 + Total Protein Lab Test (OncAlert LAB Assay)

Crown Dental + Medical recently showcased the OncAlert System at the New Zealand Dental Association Conference 2015, which took place in Auckland in late August.

Under the terms of the agreement, Crown Dental + Medical will exclusively market and sell the OncAlert products to the dental and medical markets in New Zealand pursuant to New Zealand regulatory approvals of the products, which are expected by Q1 2016. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand, Crown Dental + Medical is a distributor and marketer of products for dental and medical health providers in New Zealand.

“We are excited to partner with Vigilant Biosciences to bring this exciting new technology to patients in New Zealand,” said Ross Gunn, Director, Crown Dental + Medical Limited. “The ability to assess the risk of oral cancer earlier, before it has progressed to a later stage, will help us save lives. The system is easy to use and easy to integrate into a standard dental practice, making it a valuable new tool in our arsenal to fight this disease.”

In a recent study, published in April 2015, University of Auckland scientists revealed a “rapid rise” in diagnoses for oropharyngeal cancer in New Zealand men aged 40 and over. Additionally, according to the New Zealand Ministry of Health, more than 600,000 people in New Zealand use tobacco, and over 550,000 are heavy drinkers—both key risk factors for oral cancer.

“We are pleased to announce the agreement with Crown Dental + Medical for the sale of our OncAlert System in New Zealand,” said Matthew Kim, founder, chairman, and CEO of Vigilant Biosciences. “New Zealand is among the many countries that have seen a rise in oral cancer rates in recent years, and new tools to help assess risk and diagnose early are critical to reversing this trend. Through our partnership with Crown Dental + Medical, our goal is to provide innovative, accurate, and cost-effective products that will result in earlier detection and intervention for patients.”

Kim added, “We look forward to making several more announcements later this year including the CE marking for the OncAlert Lab Assay and the OncAlert Rapid Point-of-Care Risk Assessment Test.”

Source: DentistryIQ