Guided Therapeutics, a developer of painless testing platform, has received $517,000 to fund the third year of a $2.5m three-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for its LuViva Advanced Cervical Scan.

LuViva Cervical Scan is a non-invasive device which uses the company’s patented biophotonic technology that uses light to detect disease at the cellular level.

The patented biophotonic technology distinguishes normal and diseased tissue by detecting biochemical and morphological changes at the cellular level.

The grant allows Guided Therapeutics to expand the commercialization of LuViva Advanced Cervical Scan and Cervical Guide single-patient-use disposable.

Guided Therapeutics president and CEO Mark Faupel said they view the continuation of the grant as further third-party validation of their technology and it provides additional non-dilutive resources to complete the regulatory process and begin manufacturing.

The company’s Cervical scan is under pre-market approval (PMA) review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA ).