Abbott acquires rights for bladder cancer biomarker

Abbott Laboratories has recently acquired the exclusive rights FGFR3, a bladder cancer biomarker, leading experts to anticipate further progress in the the biomarkers market.

The FGFR3 gene mutation enables early detection for bladder cancer, disease monitoring and prognosis of patients with the condition.

It will also allow Abbott to develop biomarker cancer detection methods at earlier stages. These diagnostics should also be cheaper, less invasive and more efficient than traditional screening procedures.

Every year, 75,000 people are newly diagnosed with bladder cancer in the US alone, with nine in ten patients in the first stage of the disease now living five years or longer, as the chances of survival rapidly increase.

Abbott is also the owner of the only urine-based molecular test for bladder cancer – UroVysion – approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The firm's success in the cancer biomarkers market is a contributor to its most recent fourth-quarter reported earnings of $905 million (600.1 million pounds).