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VolitionRx surges after unveiling plans to conduct two massive clinical studies

Last updated: 10:47 10 Nov 2017 EST, First published: 05:47 10 Nov 2017 EST

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"We continue to announce large trials at very affordable costs in our efforts to gain worldwide adoption of our products."

VolitionRx Ltd's (NYSEAMERICAN:VNRX) stock shot up after it signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Taiwan University to conduct two large clinical studies.

The studies will entail taking some 7,000 patient samples.

"The signing of this MOU is a good start for Volition in the Asia Pacific Region" said Dr Jasmine Kway, Volition's vice president of Asia. 

"We are fortunate and delighted to be working with a renowned institution and Professor Han-Mo Chiu, a prominent thought leader. This large-scale study will be low cost in line with Volition's other great value studies such as the 13,500-subject study in the US and the ongoing 30,000-subject prospective study in Europe and demonstrates our commitment to conducting large trials worldwide to drive the acceptance of our products," Dr Kway added.

VolitionRx said the first trial would be a large scale multi-country, multi-center and multi-ethnic study in the Asia Pacific region, including 5,000 asymptomatic colorectal cancer screening subjects.

The second trial will include up to 2,000 symptomatic colorectal cancer patients.

These studies are being conducted to test and validate Volition's proprietary Nu.Q platform for the detection and diagnosis of colorectal cancer for marketing, rather than for regulatory purposes.

In a separate announcement, the company released its third quarter results in which it listed a slew of achievements and some upcoming milestones.

The latter include the selection of the panel for the company's front-line Nu.Q Colorectal Cancer Screening Test by the end of this year.

Also on its to-do list is the completion of the Logistics and Pathway design study that is currently in progress in Denmark, and the publication of an update on its progress using nucleosomics to purify or enrich nucleosomes of tumor origin.

"We have made fantastic progress this quarter, moving our clinical product development strongly forward in Asia, Europe and the US, and broadening our potential revenue base with our recently announced research kit sales,” said Cameron Reynolds, president and chief executive of VolitionRx.

READ VolitionRx lifted by cash infusion and first order for new range of "research use only" kits

“We have further expanded our talented scientific team, with four new hires to the R&D team, financially supported by the local government in Belgium." Reynolds added.

"We continue to announce large trials at very affordable costs in our efforts to gain worldwide adoption of our products. We look forward to achieving our upcoming clinical and commercial milestones, while continuing to keep close control on our cash burn, which has remained relatively stable," he concluded.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of September stood US$13.84 million, compared with US$12.53mln a year earlier.

The company posted a net loss of US$3.89mln, equivalent to 15 cents a share, versus a loss the year before of US$3.48mln (15 cents a share).

Shares in VolitionRx rose to US$3.72 in the morning trading session from US$3.12 overnight.

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