ANGLE plc announced the publication of breakthrough work by researchers at the University of New Mexico, US, into the role of CTC gene expression in the progression of melanoma brain metastasis. The researchers used the Parsortix system to harvest CTCs for analysis and concluded that "? gene expression in CTCs could be pivotal to prescribing more targeted treatment based on the needs of the patient." In this study, pre-clinical mouse models of melanoma brain metastasis were split into four treatment groups and two cancer drugs were tested individually and together vs.

placebo. Blood samples were analysed using the Parsortix system to harvest CTCs. The authors found that using the two drugs together was the most effective therapeutic regime, reducing tumour burden, metastasis and CTC count.

This research provides further evidence of the capability of the Parsortix system to be used for the harvesting of CTCs for analysis in pre-clinical mouse models. The global market for preclinical clinical research organizations exceeded a valuation of USD 5 billion in 2022 and is expected to achieve a 7.5% CAGR over the next 10 years owing to increasing R&D expenditure on early-stage development combined with the growing number of drugs in preclinical development.