NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Atossa Genetics said today that it has signed up Millennium Healthcare to distribute its non-invasive breast cancer diagnostic test in the New York metro area and in northern New Jersey.
Under the agreement, Millennium Medical Devices will distribute and market Atossa's ForeCYTE Breast Health devices to managed-care networks, healthcare clinics, and physician practices.
Millennium has submitted an initial order for 10,000 of the ForeCYTE kits, which can detect early breast cancer and pre-cancerous conditions that could lead to cancer and which are present as much as eight years before mammography can detect a cancer, Seattle-based Atossa said.
The ForeCYTE test, which is administered in a doctor's office, detects and analyzes proteins found in samples of nipple aspirate fluid that are associated with pre-malignant or malignant cells.
The company said that the number of pre-malignant and malignant cells and the specific amount of proteins present also is used to calculate a lifetime breast cancer risk profile.
The samples are sent to Atossa's National Reference Library for Breast Cancer Health, which conducts the analysis, and the findings and risk profile are then returned to the physicians via a five-page report.