OncoMethylome Announces Positive Research Results on its Urine Test for Prostate Cancer

24-Apr-2007

OncoMethylome Sciences announced that its prototype urine-based test for prostate cancer detects cancers commonly missed by current screening guidelines. OncoMethylome, together with Veridex LLC, presented the data this week at the annual AACR meeting in Los Angeles.

Approximately 15% of prostate cancers occur in men who are commonly not examined for prostate cancer because their PSA levels fall within the normal range of 0- 4.0ng/mL. Published studies indicate that 10% of men with a low PSA level (2.5-4.0 ng/mL) have prostate cancer. Veridex is developing a urine test, which was licensed from OncoMethylome in December 2006, to help identify men in this group who are likely to have prostate cancer.

Veridex examined urine from 255 men enrolled in a multi-center clinical trial, of which 52 had a PSA in the range of 2.5 - 4ng/mL, which, under current screening guidelines, is still considered within the normal range. In this challenging patient group, the prototype test demonstrated a sensitivity of 58% and a specificity of 88% in urine samples. This data demonstrates that the test has the potential to detect cancers missed by the current screening process. Based on these findings, Veridex is planning to carry out prospective clinical validation trials.

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