University College London Hospital starts the collection of blood samples to evaluate IMMray™ PanCan-d in symptomatic patients
University College London Hospital will assess Immunovia’s IMMray™ PanCan-d in 360 patients with symptoms suggestive of early pancreatic cancer
LUND, Sweden ― Immunovia today announced that Prof. Pereira and his team at the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, University College London (UCL) have started the collection of 360 blood samples funded by London Cancer Vanguard, for a study that aims to assess IMMray PanCan-d utility in patients with abdominal symptoms attending secondary care centres such as clinics, multidisciplinary diagnostic centres (MDC), and endoscopy/gastrointestinal units.
The study is expected to run for one year and will also validate the use of a novel early-symptoms digital Clinical Decision Support Tool currently used in primary care as a risk assessment tool for pancreatic cancer.
Prof. Stephen Pereira, Professor of Hepatology and Gastroenterology at UCL Institute for Liver and Digestive Health commented: “Almost half of the patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma are diagnosed when they are admitted to hospital as an emergency. These patients are much less likely to survive for 1 year after being diagnosed. There are many reasons for this, such as patients having vague symptoms, general practitioners not considering the possible diagnosis of cancer, or hospitals not having clear pathways to investigate such patients. IMMray™ PanCan-d has already demonstrated encouraging results for accurate detection of early stages of pancreatic cancer and this pilot study will provide the first opportunity to evaluate if the test could be used for diagnosing high risk symptomatic patients at a treatable stage. Based on successful results of this initial pilot study, we plan to proceed with an extensive prospective validation trial.”
Immunovia’s CEO Mats Grahn added: "We are delighted to be working with a world class institution such as University College London Hospitals and the multidisciplinary diagnostic center lead by Prof. Pereira to advance our IMMray™ PanCan-d test for diagnosing a new high risk group of patients with symptoms suggesting early pancreatic cancer. Our goal is to complete this trial during next year and if successful, to begin a large prospective validation. If the combination of the risk assessment tool and our test proves to detect pancreatic cancer in time for surgery, this would be a game changing breakthrough in the diagnosis of this very deadly cancer."
Mats Grahn, CEO, Immunovia, will comment this initiative as part of the Q3 report telephone conference on Monday Nov 13th at 16.00 CET
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For more information, please contact:
Mats Grahn
Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Immunovia
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Email: mats.grahn@immunovia.com
About Immunovia
Immunovia AB was founded in 2007 by investigators from the Department of Immunotechnology at Lund University and CREATE Health, the Center for Translational Cancer Research in Lund, Sweden. Immunovia’s strategy is to decipher the wealth of information in blood and translate it into clinically useful tools to diagnose complex diseases such as cancer, earlier and more accurately than previously possible. Immunovia´s core technology platform, IMMray™, is based on antibody biomarker microarray analysis. The company is now performing clinical validation studies for the commercialization of IMMray™ PanCan-d that could be the first blood based test for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In the beginning of 2016, the company started a program focused on autoimmune diseases diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring. The first test from this program, IMMray™ SLE-d, is a biomarker signature derived for differential diagnosis of lupus, now undergoing evaluation and validation. (Source: www.immunovia.com)
This information is information that Immunovia AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above.
Immunovia’s shares (IMMNOV) are listed on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm and Wildeco is the company’s Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.immunovia.com.
About University College of London Hospitals MDC
UCLH Cancer Collaborative is piloting three multidisciplinary diagnostic centres (MDC) at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust and UCLH (University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust). We are also supporting the development of an MDC at Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Multidisciplinary diagnostic centres are for patients with so-called ‘vague’ symptoms that could indicate cancer. These patients need to access appropriate tests quickly to improve early diagnosis. The project is part of the national Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate (ACE) Programme jointly funded by Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support and NHS England.
For patients with vague symptoms such as abdominal pain, weight loss or painless jaundice, it can be difficult to refer them to the most appropriate tests quickly. To cater for these patients and to further support early diagnosis, multidisciplinary diagnostic centres are designed to offer rapid diagnosis to patients. (https://www.uclh.nhs.uk/MDC)