Improved accuracy and sensitivity in prostate cancer diagnosis remains a significant unmet medical need. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in the USA with a significant increase in incidence and mortality also being observed in China. Substantial numbers of men would benefit from the improvements in prostate cancer diagnosis that Minomic’s new technology could provide.
The Company has discovered that glypican-1 is a new marker for prostate cancer with elevated levels detected in the body fluids or tissues of prostate cancer patients. The invention provides compositions and methods of detecting prostate cancer in the body fluids or tissues of patients, where prostate cancer is detected by measuring, with other markers, the level of glypican-1. The identified markers may also be used in determining prognosis and monitoring response to treatment for prostate cancer patients.
The Company said China and the US are the latest in the list of countries where the patent has now been granted.
Minomic’s CEO, Dr Brad Walsh, noted "Improving prostate cancer diagnostics and ensuring appropriate treatments are used in a timely fashion have the capacity to greatly decrease mortality and morbidity associated with this disease. The granting of this patent in these key markets also strengthens Minomic’s IP portfolio enhancing the company’s business development efforts.”
The scientific data behind Minomic's patent technology was recently presented at the 3rd Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer in Boston in August 2018, with further clinical data recently submitted for publication.
About Minomic
Minomic is an Australian immuno-oncology company specialising in therapeutics and diagnostics for solid tumours, including prostate, bladder and pancreas. 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. 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. The MiCheck® technology uses Glypican-1, a recently identified biomarker and other biomarkers never previously used in prostate cancer diagnosis. Minomic is interested in partnerships or collaborations with larger pharmaceutical/diagnostic global partners able to produce, register and distribute MiCheck® and collaborate through registration and commercialization of future diagnostic imaging and therapeutic applications of the MIL-38 antibody for prostate cancer.