Biocept shares pop after biotech moves to market pathology platform to urologists

Shares of Biocept Inc (NASDAQ:BIOC) shot up Tuesday after the diagnostics company revealed plans to market its pathology platform, Empower TC, to urologists and uropathologists.

Empower TC is now able to perform biomarker tests to help doctors diagnose prostate cancer, making it a useful tool for urologists specializing in the treatment of the disease.

Also pushing up Biocept’s share price was a published report that Maxim Group analyst Jason McCarthy kicked off coverage of the company with a Buy rating and a $3.00 price target.

READ: Biocept rallies after announcing Dubai company will validate patented liquid biopsy technology

In response, Biocept rose 14.6% to $1.18 in morning trade Tuesday.

“We believe that our pathology partnership platform offers urologists and uropathologists a unique solution to evaluate and treat their patients diagnosed with prostate cancer, which further distinguishes Biocept from other commercial liquid biopsy services,” said Michael Nall, CEO of Biocept, in a statement.

A leading cause of cancer death in the US, prostate cancer is a disease fought on multiple fronts and needle biopsies often miss relevant tumors.

The use of liquid-based biopsy biomarker detection may address tumor variance and allow for a better prognosis, according to Biocept.

“Liquid biopsy testing is becoming an important tool for personalizing cancer treatment, and we look forward to utilizing EmpowerTC to harness predictive and prognostic biomarker information from a simple blood sample,” said Dr. Michael Zahalsky, president of Z Urology in Coral Springs, Florida.

Headquartered in San Diego, Biocept is a diagnostics company, which provides assays for lung, breast, gastric, colorectal and prostate cancers as well as melanoma.

Contact Ellen Kelleher at [email protected]

Story by ProactiveInvestors