This column highlights companies in the business of providing solutions to social and environmental challenges. Featured companies are typically held in the Small Cap portfolios offered to Walden clients.

Having two X chromosomes means living with the hope that “breast cancer” or “cervical cancer” are two diagnoses you never receive. It also means potentially undergoing any of the many medical procedures, such as hysterectomy, that uniquely apply to women. Cytyc Corporation recognized this nearly 20 years ago and has been striving to meet the distinct healthcare needs of women ever since.

Cytyc’s signature and revolutionary product is the ThinPrep® Pap Test. Launched in 1996, the ThinPrep Test marked the first significant improvement to the Pap smear in over 50 years. Pap tests are recommended for all women beginning at age 18 or at the onset of sexual activity, if earlier. Pap tests are generally performed annually to screen for malignant and pre-malignant changes of the cervix. Cervical cancer, one of the most prevalent cancers in the world, is nearly 100 percent preventable if detected in the precancerous stage. The superior slide quality associated with the ThinPrep Test has led to more accurate diagnosis of precancerous lesions and cervical cancer. Cytyc has become the “gold standard” in the liquid-based Pap test market with 70 percent market share in the United States and a growing international presence.

Cytyc’s product offering also includes the NovaSure® System, an innovative endometrial ablation system used to treat menorrhagia (i.e., excessive menstrual bleeding). Endometrial ablation is an outpatient surgical procedure that destroys the uterine lining to eliminate bleeding from the uterus. Cytyc’s procedure can be completed in about seven minutes. Cytyc estimates that one in five women suffer from menorrhagia, an often painful condition associated with limited mobility and thus a poor quality of life. Until 2001, women were limited to two treatment options: hysterectomy (which was often unnecessarily invasive) or drug therapy (which was often ineffective). The introduction of the NovaSure® System in 2001 gave women a welcome alternative.

Cytyc also recently acquired Proxima Therapeutics, whose product suite includes the MammoSite® Radiation Therapy System (RTS), a novel single-use device for the treatment of breast cancer. By focusing radiation directly on the postlumpectomy site, MammoSite RTS reportedly reduces treatment time to 5 days from the 30 to 35 days for traditional whole breast external beam radiation. Cytyc is dedicated to furthering women’s health, and is committed to collaboration and continuous investment in research and development. To date, its innovative products have dramatically succeeded in improving both preventative care for women and their ongoing treatment.

—H. Harris