Senzime initiates clinical study with OnZurf Probe
Uppsala, September 17, 2015. Senzime (publ) initiates a clinical trial with OnZurf Probe for local monitoring of lactate after surgery of patients with esophageal cancer; a disease that affects approximately 500,000 patients worldwide each year. The current treatment today is mainly surgery with risk of multiple operations and increased mortality rate. OnZurf Probe’s technology can make it possible to post-surgically follow the healing process and provide early signs of complications. The study is expected to start by the end of the year.
Senzime have developed user-friendly products for continuous monitoring of glucose and lactate in fluids such as blood and cell cultures. These measurements are important —and often critical—for patients who have undergone surgery and who are at risk for unnecessary and treat-demanding complications such as ischemia (lack of oxygen) and anastomotic leakage (bowel contents leaking into the abdominal cavity). Senzime’s product OnZurf makes it possible to carry out continuous biochemical test sampling on specific organs, which now will appear in a study of patients who undergone surgery for esophageal cancer (esophageal resection), a procedure carried out on a half-million patients worldwide every year.
"Continuous monitoring of lactate in patients undergoing surgery may provide the opportunity to detect early leakages. The clinical market seeks systems that allow continuous monitoring of biomarkers in blood and tissue to rapidly detect post-operative complications and to control interventions. In Sweden e.g. many cancer operations are annually conducted where effective monitoring systems are much needed in order to reduce the number of painful and care-consuming complications that increase the cost of treatment. The results of the study will become an important basis for our planned market launch of OnZurf 2016, "says Lena Söderström, CEO of Senzime AB.
"OnZurf makes efficient postoperative monitoring possible by continuously measuring lactate levels locally in the esophagus, thereby detecting any signs of leakage at an earlier stage than by conventional diagnostics. Early detection allows for rapid intervention and the opportunity to prevent complications after surgery, "says Per-Jonas Blind, MD Surgery, University Hospital and one of the supervisors in the study.
The results of this med-tech study are obtained from patients who suffer complications, and the prospective study duration is difficult to estimate. The first report is to be expected after assessing approximately 10 patients with complications.
The study is conducted at the Lund University Hospital under the direction of Jan Johansson, Chief surgery, SUS.
For further information, please contact:
Lena Söderström, CEO of Senzime AB
Tel: +46 708-16 39 12, email: lena.soderstrom@senzime.com
About Senzime
Senzime develops and markets analytical instruments and related disposable products, enabling automated, continuous monitoring of vital substances including glucose (sugar), in biological fluids. Senzime has two platforms for continuously monitoring glucose and lactate – BioSenz in biotech environment and CliniSenz for continuous patient-monitoring. Via microdialysis in tissue or blood Senzime offers a complete system enabling continuous monitoring which is critical to detect post- surgery complications. The company's share is listed on Aktietorget since 2008. www.senzime.com
About OnZurf
Onzurf, a new generation of microdialysis catheters that allow for organ specific monitoring of, for example, bowel, liver and heart after surgery. Microdialysis is a technology that was originally developed at the Karolinska Institute in the 1970’s and is today validated in over 15,000 scientific studies.