EpiCapture Receives 2024 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award
EpiCapture, which is focused on developing accurate and non-invasive liquid tests for the early detection and prognostic assessment of high-grade cancers, has been named the recipient of the 2024 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award.
EpiCapture was presented with the Award by Professor Orla Feely, President, University College Dublin (UCD) during the annual presentation of the NovaUCD Innovation Awards which took place at the UCD University Club.
Professor Orla Feely, President, UCD said, “The NovaUCD Innovation Awards have become a key annual event highlighting the University’s commitment to innovation and recognise the achievements of our research, innovation and entrepreneurial communities and I congratulate all who have received this year’s Awards. I would also like to wish the Awardees future success as they continue to work towards delivering economic and societal impact in Ireland, and further afield, through their commercialisation, consultancy, entrepreneurial and innovation activities.”
Pictured (l-r) are; Kevin Tansley; Associate Professor Antoinette Perry; Professor Orla Feely, President, UCD and Edward Simons.
Non-invasive liquid biopsy tests, such as urine, which are being developed by EpiCapture are ‘liquid gold’ for accurate and early cancer detection. They provide a seamless solution to enable informed decision-making when considering costly, invasive and risky surgical procedures. They can be repeated frequently with minimal discomfort, providing up-to-date peace of mind for patients and clinicians alike.
EpiCapture was co-founded in 2021 by Associate Professor Antoinette Perry and Edward Simons, as a spin-out from the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science to commercialise the outputs of Associate Professor Perry’s research on prostate cancer. A Co-Director of the UCD Cancer Biology and Therapeutics Lab, her research has to date been funded by Science Foundation Ireland, Irish Research Council, Irish Cancer Society, and Enterprise Ireland along with Prostate Cancer Foundation (US) and Movember (Australia). In addition, EpiCapture has received support from Enterprise Ireland as a High Potential Start-Up and from EIT Health.
EpiCapture-prostate, the company’s first test which is currently in development, is a novel urine DNA test to detect high grade prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men in developed Western economies. In 2022 alone, 1.4 million new cases were diagnosed. With an ageing population and improving life expectancies, the number is predicted to almost double over the next 20 years.
EpiCapture-prostate selectively detects high grade prostate cancer by measuring epigenetic changes at six genes in urine using a PCR platform to generate a score, indicating the likelihood that a person has high grade prostate cancer. Epigenetic changes, particularly DNA methylation, are a hallmark of most cancers, including prostate cancer, where they are among the earliest and most widespread features.
The initial intended use of this test is as a disease monitoring tool for patients on active surveillance, i.e. patients who have been diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer, to be used repeatedly to monitor disease progression. Ultimately, home sample collection will be enabled. The test also has potential as an early-detection/screening test for high grade prostate cancer.
On receiving the 2024 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award, Associate Professor Antoinette Perry, CSO and co-founder, EpiCapture, said, “We are absolutely delighted with this Award. We continue to work hard to make our prostate cancer test available to the millions of men and their clinicians who will benefit from an accurate, non-invasive test.”
The company has now completed two multi-centre international studies, and appointed Dr Jim Walsh as Chairman and Kevin Tansley as CEO as part of a team of seven and established the company’s headquarters at NovaUCD.
The company also intends to develop a test to detect ovarian cancer where there is a significant unmet need to improve early detection to improve outcome for patients, and research has commenced on this test by Associate Professor Perry and her team.
Associate Professor Perry added, “EpiCapture plans to close a seed round in 2024 that will fund two further multi-centre studies, and reach first revenues in two years.”
The annual NovaUCD Innovation Awards highlight successes made in areas of knowledge transfer, consultancy, entrepreneurship and the promotion of an innovation culture, by members of the UCD research, innovation and entrepreneurial community.
A total of 7 Awards were presented by Professor Orla Feely, UCD President. The other Awardees are;
2024 NovaUCD Innovation Award: Professor Therese Kinsella, CEO and founder, ATXA Therapeutics
2024 NovaUCD Invention of the Year Award: Associate Professor Nan Zhang, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
2024 NovaUCD Consultancy of the Year Award: Professor Fiona Timmins, UCD School of School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems
2024 NovaUCD Licence of the Year Award: Go Eve
2024 NovaUCD Founder of the Year Award: John Byrne, CEO and Founder, Corlytics
2024 NovaUCD Innovation Champion of the Year Award: Professor Nick Holden, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering.
ENDS
12 April 2024
For more information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, NovaUCD, UCD Research and Innovation, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.