Biofield Establishes China Breast Cancer Diagnostic JV

Biofield Corp. (BZEC.PK) and the MacKay Group established a Chinese national healthcare joint venture built around Biofield’s breast cancer diagnostic device. MacKay has been backing Biofield since 2004. The JV will be called Worldwide Lifecare Limited or the Carelife JV because the agreement is between Biofield and Carelife, which is operating through its appointed agent, China International Medical Exchange Ltd.

Funded with approximately $363 million, the Carelife JV will open a China network of medical clinics, call centers and data centers for R&D. The first medical clinic will open in October 2008 at Carelife’s China Headquarters in Shanghai. By 2012, Carelife expects to open more than 500 medical clinics in China’s major cities, which will make the JV’s technology available to a 60% share of China’s urban population.

The JV includes as a partner the China’s National Labor Union, and it is funded with an investment by the Chinese Government. The 500 medical centers will open in Labor Union centers. China’s major insurance carriers have agreed to refer their clients to the centers.

Carelife projects a target diagnostic penetration rate in urban China of 20%, about 25 million diagnoses annually.

The Carelife JV will assist in having the BDS device manufactured in China.

The Biofield Diagnostic System measures electrical activity in the breast as a means of detecting epithelial cancers, including breast cancer. The system uses Biofield-designed single-use sensors and a measurement device to detect and analyze changes associated with the development of epithelial cancers. The company believes the non-invasive device can be a useful adjunct in helping to reduce surgical biopsies on suspicious breast lesions. If mamographies are not available, as is sometimes the case in rural areas, Biofield thinks its technologies provide a viable alternative.

In May of this year, Biofield demonstrated the Biofield Breast Diagnostic System [BDS] in Shanghai before the Shanghai Jiashen Lifecare Investment Management Company Limited. The test was conducted at the Shanghai International Medical Exchange Centre, a division under the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau [SIMEC], a Shanghai medical technology testing center.

Patients with known malignant and benign tumors were tested. Each time, the BDS accurately identified the nature of the tumor.

The Biofield device was granted CE Mark designation for use in Europe in 2000. The device has not been marketed there. Biofield attempted to gain FDA approval of the system as a predicate device, but in 2004, the FDA ruled that no similar device existed. To win approval, Biofield would have to file for Pre-Market Authorization, which Biofield has not chosen to do.

Biofield has been working on the device for over twenty years. So far, it has accumulated a debt of $77 million.

Disclosure: none.