ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Sept. 21, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In an update to New Mexico state legislators, Biomoda, Inc. (OTCBB:BMOD) President John Cousins reported that the state-funded lung cancer screening program for military veterans has recruited 500 participants, completed the screening process on 130 participants and is proceeding on schedule with an ancillary benefit.
"Our focus, of course, is early detection of asymptomatic lung cancer; however, as a result of the comprehensive protocol for this study we have also detected potentially life-threatening conditions, including emphysema, pneumonia and coronary artery disease, in approximately 80 percent of our participants and referred them to follow-on medical care," Cousins said.
The Legislature has appropriated $1.65 million to date to screen New Mexico veterans for early-stage lung cancer using Biomoda's proprietary diagnostic. Testifying before the Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee of the New Mexico State Legislature, Cousins said that Biomoda expects the pilot program to identify five to ten individuals with early-stage lung cancer by the end 2009.
Biomoda is conducting the screening study in collaboration with the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services (NMDVS) and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech).
Under the guidance of a respiratory therapist, study volunteers provide a deep-lung sputum sample to be processed with Biomoda's patented CyPath(R) assay in the Biomoda lab. Biomoda's CyPath(R) results are compared to a CT scan and a traditional cytopathology analysis of the sputum sample to confirm accuracy. CyPath(R) is based on a process utilizing a molecular marker, originally developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory that preferentially binds to cancer cells and fluoresces red under ultraviolet light.
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