Breast tech lifesaver
A Wellington firm is attracting investors with its pioneering use of physics to assess breast tumour risks. Tom Pullar-Strecker reports.
Kiwi medical technology firm Volpara, is hoping to build a successful global business by helping save the lives of breast cancer victims.
The Wellington-based company, founded by a former Oxford University academic, uses its technology to assess breast tissue density, which has been linked to the incidence of cancers.
Volpara Health Technologies made an operating loss of A$4.5m (NZ$4.7m) on revenues of A$2.5m in the year to March 31. But with a company valuation of A$60m, investors are taking a punt on it becoming a lot more successful.
Most US states now require breast-screening clinics to advise women who have dense breasts of their increased risk of cancer. A dense breast means having a greater percentage of glandular tissue, rather than fat. Volpara provides an objective measure of breast density, based on more than just observation.
Its British-born chief executive Ralph Highnam, once worked at Oxford University.
Highnam said: ‘‘We actually modelled the X-ray physics of what is inside the breast to do the density assessment.
‘‘The physics and the underlying algorithms just appear to be much more robust than the competition’s.’’
Highnam says he and fellow academic Professor Sir John Michael Brady, could have commercialised the technology anywhere. ‘‘But we opted to do it in New Zealand because government support was very good, and everything was very accessible being in Wellington.’’
Awareness of breast density as a risk factor for cancer appears to be at a tipping point.
A computer model widely used by clinicians around the world to assess women’s risk of breast cancer, the Tyrer-Cuzick model, will soon be revised and would ‘‘almost certainly’’ incorporate Volpara’s science as one of the measurements it uses when calculating risk factors, Highnam says.
One of the biggest questions is whether its model is superior to a subjective, visual assessment from a radiologist, or whether a look over of a mammogram by an experienced pair eyes will generally prove best.
Stanford University this month concluded Volpara did not appear to provide ‘‘much additional value for prediction of risk beyond that of routine clinical Bi-Rads assessment’’, which is a manual check.
Manchester University research also favoured visual assessments over Volpara’s readings.
But Highnam says Volpara was competing against a top, highly experienced radiologist, rather than the average professional. The Stanford study was very encouraging, he said.
Highnam was at Brisbane’s Xerocon conference, marketing his Australian-listed company to investors earlier this month.