ValiRx (LON:VAL) has received European patent approval for its cancer screening test biomarker NAV3.
The test enables cancer cells to be detected in tissue samples at a stage where tumour development is only about to start.
The system can be used in a range of cancers, including colon, breast and lung.
NAV3 is one of five patent family assets that the firm's subsidiary ValiFinn Oy acquired in 2012.
Chief executive of the life science firm Dr Satu Vainikka said: "The granting of this latest patent by the EPO continues to underpin our global geographic patent coverage and, I believe, further vindicates our establishment of ValiFinn and its Finnish biomarkers business, in what is a very exciting and rapidly growing marketplace."