03 October 2006 - Article by Nottingham Evening Post

AMERICA'S equivalent of Guide Dogs for the Blind is taking an interest in a pioneering Nottingham business. The veterinary director of the organisation has been visiting PetScreen, the BioCity-based business that has developed a method of screening dogs for cancer. Patricia Van Der Coevering has been in discussions with the business about the prospects for collaboration in a market seen as crucial to the firm. PetScreen was set up by entrepreneurs Dr Kevin Slater and Graeme Radcliffe. It offers a service suggesting the best treatments for canine cancers. Currently, 25% of dogs fall victim to cancer, with some breeds particularly prone to the disease. But many canine cancers are detected late. PetScreen offers dog and cat owners a screening service that can flag up cancers earlier, and a testing service which will suggest which type of chemotherapy is likely to work best. The services, which will be available through vets' surgeries, were developed from practices used in the screening and treatment of human cancers. But the PetScreen team, led by technology entrepreneur Dr Slater, was the first to spot its potential with animals. The interest from Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc in the USA stems from the cancers certain breeds are prone to. "I think that what they're doing here is really interesting and we will be having some further discussions," Ms Van Der Coevering told Business Post. "Something like 75-80% of the dogs we use are labradors and they are prone to particular types of cancer." Dr Slater said: "One of the key areas in developing our screening is having access to high quality clinical information about dogs. "Guide Dogs for the Blind in the US has 2,000 dogs on which they have detailed clinical records, which helps us, but it also helps them because it maintains the health of high trained and therefore very valuable dogs." The US market is ten times the size of the UK market, which makes it very important to PetScreen, said Dr Slater. "We are now at the late stages of concluding arrangements with two major providers of veterinary health care in the US," he said. Based in BioCity at Pennyfoot Street, Nottingham, PetScreen was launched two-and-a-half years ago and now employs eight people.