Birmingham cancer test to be launched into £200m market

A world-leading diagnostics company has agreed to market a blood cancer test developed by scientists at the University of Birmingham.

French group Sebia will distribute Seralite-FLC (sFLC) cancer test that is used in the diagnosis and monitoring of the blood cancer myeloma. The annual global market for myeloma cancer test is £200m.

The sFLC test was developed in a joint venture with Birmingham-based Abingdon Health and scientists at the University of Birmingham.

The test, which monitors proteins in the blood that can indicate the presence of myeloma, is aimed at clinical laboratories with a small to medium-sized workload.

Chris Yates, chief executive of Abingdon Health, which is based at the Birmingham Research Park in Edgbaston, said: “Sebia’s global reach and market leadership in the provision of electrophoresis testing makes it the perfect partner to launch our new product worldwide.

“We believe the combination of Abingdon Health and Sebia’s products provides customers with the complete solution for the testing of multiple myeloma in serum.”

The sFLC test is prescribed to help detect, diagnose and monitor plasma cell disorders such as multiple myeloma, and to monitor the effectiveness of treatments. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Dr James Wilkie, CEO of Alta Innovations, the tech transfer arm of the University of Birmingham, said “We have worked closely with Abingdon Health to bring these research results to market as fast as possible where they make a real difference to patients lives.

“This new agreement with Sebia makes this happen even more quickly.”