Guided Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB & OTCQB: GTHP), developer of a rapid and painless testing platform that uses biophotonics for the early detection of disease, today announced that it has begun human testing of its light-based detection technology for Barrett's Esophagus, a precursor for esophageal cancer. The technology is being jointly developed with Konica Minolta Opto of Japan.
"The start of the human clinical feasibility study is the most significant milestone to date in the development of our pipeline Barrett's Esophagus detection and monitoring product with partner Konica Minolta," said Mark L. Faupel, CEO and president of Guided Therapeutics, Inc. "This comes on the heels of announcing our Asian regional partnership with Konica Minolta for our LuViva Advanced Cervical Scan for distribution and screening clinical trials."
The feasibility study is designed to test the concept of using the Guided Therapeutics platform for the detection of changes in esophageal tissue called Barrett's Esophagus, a precursor for esophageal cancer. The study also tests various hardware and procedural configurations and is designed to determine a way forward for product development and further clinical trials. The feasibility study is expected to enroll about 40 subjects and be completed before the end of 2011. The study is being conducted at two Atlanta-area clinics.