SELFPOCNAD

SelfPOCNAD - Development of a Point of Care Detection Device and Self Sampling Device for Cervical Cancer Screening –

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Our project is to develop a commercial pre-production prototype point of care test for invasive cervical cancer (ICC). This easy-to-use lab-on-a-chip system (SelfPOCNAD) will enable women to collect samples in the comfort of their own homes and take them into a GP surgery for testing and provision of immediate results. This will dramatically increase compliance of women with the ICC screening programs will and drastically decrease the ICC incidence and save lives. ICC is the second most common cancer in women. Each year, there are over 470,000 new cases globally. Of these, 33,000 are in the EU. Once the disease is established, it is hard to cure, so each year 233,000 women die - 15,000 in the EU[1]. After breast cancer, it is the second-most-common cancer amongst women. However, this is a preventable and treatable disease, if detected in the early stages. Some EU member states have well-organised screening and effective prevention programmes. But better compliance with screening using this inexpensive lab-on-a-chip system, especially in New Member States, could save the lives of 3-5,000 European women p.a.

This demonstration project will enable the SelfPOCNAD consortium to prove that they have a technological and commercially sound proposition. It will allow them to secure investment by either a major blue chip company or an investment house to fund the scale up to production of this life saving and commercially attractive Point of Care (POC) test.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A reliable yet user friendly and affordable device for cervical cancer screening should facilitate diagnosis and save lives.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Invasive cervical cancer (ICC) is the second most common cancer in women, with hundreds of thousands of new cases every year. However, ICC is a preventable and treatable disease, if detected in the early stages.

Certain EU countries have well-organised screening and effective prevention programmes. Nonetheless, a lab-on-a-chip system could lead to better compliance with screening as it would enable women to collect samples in the comfort of their own homes.

The scope of the EU-funded http://www.selfpocnad.eu/ (SELFPOCNAD) (SelfPOCNAD - development of a point of care detection device and self sampling device for cervical cancer screening) project is to develop a commercial pre-production prototype of a point-of-care (POC) test for this cancer. The system will combine a self-sampling device that patients can use at home and take their samples to the POC detection unit to obtain same-day results on cervical cancer screening.

During the first part of the project, the consortium agreed on a plan for prototype development. This requires a slight adaptation of the basic laboratory prototype of the instrument. They have decided on the technical development factors, material requirements and the protocol of the clinical validation. From a technical perspective, project partners have highlighted certain improvements in component production and assembly so that the prototype would be ready for demonstration.

The next step is to validate the efficacy of the device in a POC setting using clinical samples. Various sites have confirmed their collaboration with SELFPOCNAD and after obtaining ethical approval, a trial will commence.

From a marketing standpoint, the production cost of each device is estimated to be around 500 EUR while the SELFPOCNAD cartridge will cost less than 4 EUR. This affordable tool for cervical cancer diagnosis combined with its ease of use should improve compliance with screening and in the long run reduce the number of cancer cases.