Polartechnics wins design awards

Sydney-based biotechnology company Polartechnics has came out on top with two design awards for its cervical cancer detection device, TruScan.

The Australian Design Awards, presented on April 15, were for TruScan's engineering design and for software and electronics design.

Victor Skladnev, the company's managing director, said the awards came at an opportune time - Polartechnics is launching TruScan to the European and Australian markets.

"It's great to be patted on the back by external sources for our technology," he said.

"We have commenced the sales process of TruScan in Italy and we will begin to sell it in Australia in the second half of the year," he said.

He said the company planned initially to market TruScan to countries like Italy that did not provide full medical reimbursement for the existing pap smear technology. In these countries, women were more likely to trial the new cervical cancer screening technology, he said.

Polartechnics CEO Alan Holton said TruScan substantially reduced the rates of false negatives in both low- and high- grade pre-cancers compared to the pap smear.

"Anyone who does a pap smear is able to use TruScan," Holton said. "The cervix gets brushed for a minute and the indicator tells the doctor whether he has struck diseased tissue." It provides instantaneous results and lower discomfort to patients, he said.

Later in the year the company plans to launch SolarScan, its melanoma diagnostic, and to date it has sold four systems to Australian dermatologists for $120,000 each.

Polartechnics listed on the ASX 17 years ago and has a market capital of $100 million.