A Wisconsin biotech company aiming to improve prostate cancer screening is seeking seed funds while competing in a startup accelerator in Texas.
Gregor Diagnostics was founded in February 2016 by CEO Tobias Zutz, who had worked for Exact Sciences for over five years before branching out on his own. After going through gener8tor’s gbeta program last summer, the company recently entered into a license agreement with WARF.
This agreement covers certain biomarkers which Gregor Diagnostics plans to develop and commercialize for a screening test for prostate cancer. The test would be an upgrade from the commonly used PSA blood test, Zutz says.
PSA stands for prostate specific antigen, a substance made by cells in the prostate gland.
Zutz tells WisBusiness.com that PSA tests have been the standard since the early 1990s, but they have drawbacks. He said the PSA test can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and the resulting unnecessary patient biopsies can lead to infections and other issues. And while usage numbers of this test are going down, he says it’s still the best option currently available.
Gregor Diagnostics’ proposed test would be an improvement, Zutz argues, because it would be more accurate, using seminal fluid rather than blood.
“The problem with blood is that biomarkers have to invade the bloodstream, and they’ve been diluted quite aggressively,” Zutz said. “With seminal fluid, you get the entire sample… tumor cells are being shed into seminal fluid samples at a much higher concentration.” Read the full story here.
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