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OncoMethylome Sciences Liege (Belgium) - May 29, 2008, 08:00 CET - OncoMethylome Sciences (Euronext Brussels: ONCOB, Euronext Amsterdam: ONCOA) released additional data today from an ongoing clinical verification trial of their bladder cancer test.
* The new data confirms the ability of this non-invasive urine-based test to accurately detect early-stage bladder cancer * The test procedure was successfully simplified without compromising performance * Multi-center trial shows that the test is highly reproducible
The new findings from an additional 197 patients are statistically consistent with initial interim data and show an improvement in the performance of the test to 91% sensitivity and 93% specificity, meaning that the test correctly identified 91% of bladder cancer cases and 93% of patients who were negative for bladder cancer. Only patients with early-stage bladder cancer were included in this part of the clinical trial, demonstrating that the test indeed detects cancer in early stages, when the cancer is most treatable. Furthermore, as a result of the trial, the test was simplified by reducing the number of methylation markers from five to three, without compromising the test's performance.
Dr. Jim DiGuiseppi, CTO of OncoMethylome commented on the new findings which were presented today at the Cancer Epigenetics conference in Boston, USA. "The non-invasive molecular diagnostic test of OncoMethylome Sciences continues to demonstrate excellent performance. We are very excited that this test is showing even better results now, than the already excellent interim results we released last year. We are now in the process of organizing larger validation trials and will be starting discussions with potential commercial partners."
Each year in the U.S. and EU, bladder cancer is diagnosed in over 160,000 men and women and results in approximately 48,000 deaths. Today, microscopic evaluation of the urine (cytology) and an invasive examination of the bladder (cystoscopy) are used to detect cancer in high-risk patients such as people who have blood in the urine or a history of bladder cancer. Cytology, which can miss over 50% of the cancers, is very insensitive for early-stage disease. Therefore, cystoscopy, which is invasive and costly, is regularly used to diagnose bladder cancer or rule it out. OncoMethylome is developing a sensitive, specific and non-invasive urine-based test for detecting bladder cancer.
To download this press release as a PDF, click here: Press Release PDF
To download the poster presented at the Cancer Epigenetics conference, click here: Scientific Poster PDF
About OncoMethylome Sciences
OncoMethylome Sciences (Euronext Brussels: ONCOB; Euronext Amsterdam: ONCOA) is a molecular diagnostics company developing gene methylation tests to assist physicians in effectively detecting and treating cancer. Specifically, the company's tests are designed to help the physician (i) accurately detect cancer in early stages of cancer development, (ii) predict a patient's response to drug therapy, and (iii) predict the likelihood of cancer recurrence.
OncoMethylome boasts a broad product development pipeline consisting of ten products and a solid partnering record. The company collaborates with leading international molecular oncology research centers, such as The Johns Hopkins University, and has a number of commercial and collaborative partnerships with Veridex LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company, LabCorp, Schering-Plough Corp., GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Abbott, Millipore Corporation's BioScience Division, and EXACT Sciences Corp. OncoMethylome's products are based on methylation technology invented by Johns Hopkins University (USA).
Established in January 2003, OncoMethylome has offices in Liege and Leuven (Belgium), in Durham, NC (USA), and in Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
For more information please contact: Lucija Turcinov Tel. +32-479-801-902 ir@oncomethylome.com www.oncomethylome.com
