Singapore, Nov 12, 2010: Australian diagnostics company, HealthLinx has announced that the first stage of OvPlex study has returned excellent initial data for the two new biomarkers AGR2 and HTX010. In this multi-center, multi-site second OvPlex study, the biomarkers were being evaluated for accuracy in diagnosing ovarian cancer. To date, AGR2 and HTX010 data have been analyzed in over 400 case and control samples. Both are said to have demonstrated statistically significant elevations in circulating plasma concentrations in both early stage (Stages I-II) and late stage (Stages III-IV) ovarian cancer patients. According to the company, these data are significant as they confirm and reinforce previous findings from several smaller pilot studies and now pave the way for using these markers in its OvPlex multimarker panel. Previous modeling with these biomarkers demonstrated improved diagnostic efficiency of the OvPlex panel. In combination with the other OvPlex biomarkers, the company expects a marked improvement in the diagnostic efficiency in early (Stage I-II) ovarian cancer. ?Based upon our initial studies, we always believed that AGR2 and HTX010 would boost the performance of the OvPlex test. These early results are certainly in line with expectations and give us great confidence that our target of achieving a test with significantly enhanced diagnostic efficiency is feasible. Our aim is to fine tune the OvPlex test to ultimately provide sensitivity and specificity of at least 97 percent in the target patient population? said Mr Nick Gatsios, MD, HealthLinx. Further development of the diagnostic use of AGR2 is of particular relevance as Healthlinx is the exclusive licensee of intellectual property covering the use of a highly specific monoclonal antibody that forms the basis of the blood test it has developed. HealthLinx has already signed a non-exclusive license deal for the use of one anti-AGR2 monoclonal antibody for research purposes to the Millipore, one of the world?s largest research reagent companies. Based on these data, HealthLinx will now move forward with plans to further develop and partner the AGR2 immunoassay as a clinical diagnostic tool with a range of potential applications related to cancer diagnosis and monitoring.
