Company Name: Minomic
Announcement Date: 30/06/2016
Announcement Category: Awards/recognition, Product launch/update
Announcement Content:
MINOMIC RESEARCH IDENTIFYING KEY PROTEIN NOT PREVIOUSLY OBSERVED IN PROSTATE CANCER PUBLISHED IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL OF CANCER
• May have future impact on important area of men’s health
Sydney, Australia, 14 June 2016: The peer-reviewed Journal of Cancer has published a scientific paper by Australian biotechnology company Minomic that describes the target protein for Minomic’s MIL-38 antibody. The MIL-38 antibody was first described nearly thirty years ago, but its target antigen proved very elusive and had not been identified. By a series of molecular techniques Minomic researchers identified the MIL-38 antigen as the proteoglycan Glypican-1 (GPC-1). This protein helps detect prostate cancer more specifically than current tests.
An ELISA platform is currently being developed to assess the levels of GPC-1 in normal, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer patients. A pilot study completed in 2015, using the ELISA, indicated GPC-1 represents a clinically relevant biomarker for prostate cancer diagnosis.
It is well known that the standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test has poor specificity (about only 40%) which results in a high number of false positive tests. These false positive cause undue stress for patients, as well as the pain and the risk of infection from unnecessary biopsies. Clinicians recognise there is a need for new and more reliable biomarkers. Preliminary data presented at the 2015 American Urology Association supports GPC-1 as a biomarker with improved specificity (85%) over PSA, thereby reducing false positive reporting and the associated problems. Such a new marker that helps better detect prostate cancer may have a significant impact on this important area of men’s health in the future.
GPC-1 is an attractive prostate cancer biomarker as it is present on the cell surface and also shed by the cells. Minomic’s researchers are currently studying the role of GPC-1 in prostate cancer as this target shows great potential in both therapeutic and diagnostic applications.
Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed male cancer in Australia, representing a quarter of all new male cancer cases each year. The disease is expected to kill more than 3,300 Australian men in 2016.
About Minomic
Minomic International Ltd is an Australian immuno-oncology company specialising in therapeutics and diagnostics for prostate cancer. Minomic has developed the in vitro diagnostic test called MiCheck® for the early detection of prostate cancer. Minomic is preparing to globally launch MiCheck®, which has been shown to be more than twice as specific as the existing gold standard Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) screening technology. The simple MiCheck® technology uses Glypican-1, a newly identified biomarker. Minomic scientists have also identified two other biomarkers never previously used in prostate cancer diagnosis to further improve the test.
Following a successful 300-patient clinical study demonstrating good specificity of 85% for discriminating prostate cancer patients from those with benign prostatic hyperplasia, the test is about to enter final stage validation trials. This means that MiCheck® delivers only 1.5 false positives from every ten samples, compared to 6 false positive results in every 10 samples using the standard PSA test.
Minomic is interested in partnerships or collaborations with larger pharmaceutical/diagnostic global partners able to produce, register and distribute the MiCheck® test and collaborate through registration and commercialisation of future diagnostic imaging and therapeutic applications of the MIL-38 antibody for prostate cancer.
Further Inquiries:
Dr Brad Walsh
Chief Executive Officer
Contact: 0413 231 296
Dean Felton
Monsoon Communications
0411 698 499
Announcement URL:
About Minomic:
Minomic has developed a new, non-invasive test for prostate cancer, called MiCheck. Using only a simple blood sample, the MiCheck test detects a protein that is present on cancer cells.
It's more specific than existing tests like the PSA test, therefore, once commercialised, would reduce the rate of false positive results and unnecessary biopsies. Fewer biopsies performed means a reduced risk of infection, less time off work and a substantially reduced economic burden on the health system.
Go to Company Profile for: Minomic
Announcement Contact: [email protected]
