New biomarkers for cancer developed

Epigenomics AG, a medical company focused on developing products for cancer treatment and detection based on DNA methylation, announced that it completed a study in its lung cancer program successfully. The study was run by Professor Dr. Christian Witt and Dr. Bernd Schmidt at the Charite - Universitatsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.

The study of 84 patients showed that two biomarkers developed by Epigenomics detected 79% of lung cancers with a specificity of 95% - only two false positive results came from 45 patients with benign lung diseases.

The current standard for detection of lung cancer is for a pathologist to find tumor cells in a sample of bronchial lavage fluid. Many times, this method of detection fails to confirm or deny the existence of lung cancer in the fluid. Epigenomic's molecular test has greatly increased sensitivity and specificity, which may help doctors to determine whether or not their patient is suffering from lung cancer.

"Bronchial lavage is a bronchioscopic standard procedure that is used in lung cancer diagnosis when the tumor is not visible in the larger airways. Yet, the detection of tumor cells not always works in the lavage fluid. Molecular markers with the performance demonstrated in our study could be of substantial benefit in this situation," says Prof. Dr. Christian Witt, Head of the Department of Pneumology at the Charite, Berlin.

"These data mark an important milestone in our lung cancer program," commented Geert Nygaard, Chief Executive Officer of Epigenomics. "The outstanding performance in high-risk patients opens up the opportunity to develop or partner a product for additional indication areas such as a radiology/CT reflex testing prior to lung biopsies. I am very pleased with the execution of this clinical study that was successfully completed ahead of schedule."

Epigenomics hopes to continue to perfect the biomarkers used in bronchial lavage specimens as the next phase in its lung cancer program.

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