Data from an initial representative 938-subject sample of  a 4,800-subject colorectal cancer trial at Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen demonstrated that the NuQ® blood-based diagnostic platform  is able to correctly diagnose 84% of colorectal cancers, including early-stage cancers.

Despite the existence of screening programs for the disease, colorectal cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S., partly due to cost, and to low compliance with colonoscopies and other screening methods like fecal tests. Colorectal cancer is often found after symptoms appear, which typically only happens with more advanced disease, though it is one of the more survivable diseases if caught early: it has an observed five-year survival rate of 74% in stage I, but only 6% in stage IV.

VolitionRx's NuQ test aims to meet this need by detecting colorectal cancer through a simple, accurate, cost-effective, blood test.

Analysis of the 938-subject sample of the study demonstrated that the NuQ diagnostic test detected 84 percent of colorectal cancers at 78% specificity, and 60 percent of polyps, in a population aged over 50 years with symptoms indicative of colorectal cancer. The NuQ test used to achieve these results was a panel of three individual NuQ assays, each of which identifies and measures a separate nucleosome structure in the blood. Each NuQ panel used a small amount of blood - only 60µL or about a drop per subject.

Data showed that the NuQ test is able to detect early stage (I or II) disease and late-stage (III or IV) disease with similar accuracy, allowing for earlier detection and treatment of colorectal cancer and enabling the potential for improved patient outcomes.

Professor Hans Jorgen Nielsen, Professor of Surgical Oncology at Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark, remarked, "This is an extremely promising result in a symptomatic population. Collection has now begun for a much larger 14,000-subject screening study in Denmark, and we expect to begin delivering the first several thousand samples to VolitionRx for analysis in the early part of 2015."

Cameron Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer of VolitionRx Limited, commented, "An accurate, early, and cost effective blood test to screen for colorectal cancer would mark a revolutionary advancement in the way we test for and diagnose this terrible disease. These exciting results from our latest analysis, which demonstrated 84% accuracy in colorectal cancer detection, confirm that the NuQ test enables accurate early identification of colorectal cancer through a simple blood test."