For immediate release |
4 September 2019 |
ANGLE plc ("the Company")
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA DEMONSTRATES USE OF PARSORTIX FOR NEUROENDOCRINE ANALYSIS IN SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER
Neuroendocrine markers on CTCs associated with poor overall survival
Potential for faster diagnosis, patient stratification and on-treatment therapy monitoring in lung cancer
ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, is pleased to announce that the Medical University of Vienna (Vienna) has published new results of work undertaken in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) utilising ANGLE's Parsortix® system.
This has been published as a peer-reviewed publication in the journal Cells and is available at https://angleplc.com/library/publications/.
The work for the first time investigates neuroendocrine markers on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) harvested by the Parsortix system. These were found to correlate with patients' poor overall survival. The investigation utilised RNA analysis on the CTCs, which cannot be achieved by analysis of ctDNA (fragments of dead cells).
SCLC is a highly aggressive neuroendocrine tumor of the lung and most patients present with metastatic disease at initial diagnosis. Utilising a Parsortix liquid biopsy based on a simple blood test could have numerous advantages compared to current standard of care including:
· fast and accurate diagnosis of SCLC, which can be challenging due to difficulties accessing the site and/or insufficient biopsied tissue;
· repeat liquid biopsies to guide treatment as the cancer evolves, which is not feasible with tissue biopsies due to the invasive injury to the patient, risks of medical complication and the high costs of tissue biopsy in lung cancer;
· determination by RNA analysis of the CTCs of suitable drugs and whether new targeted lung cancer drugs are likely to be effective for the patient.
Professor Robert Zeillinger, Head of the Molecular Oncology Group at the Medical University of Vienna, commented:
"In this study we have demonstrated new approaches utilising ANGLE's Parsortix system to assess neuroendocrine markers in lung cancer. These markers correlate to the aggressiveness of the cancer and have the potential to significantly improve the way that lung cancer is diagnosed and treated."
ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:
"Lung cancer is a major opportunity for ANGLE to pursue once we have concluded our current FDA and verification studies in breast cancer and ovarian cancer. We are encouraged by the work of Vienna, and others, in this area. There is a clear benefit to lung cancer patients in faster diagnosis, longitudinal monitoring and reducing invasive procedures as well as a strong health economic argument to reduce healthcare costs."
For further information ANGLE:
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+44 (0) 1483 343434 |
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive Ian Griffiths, Finance Director |
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For Frequently Used Terms, please see the Company's website on http://www.angleplc.com/the-parsortix-system/glossary/
Notes for editors
About Medical University of Vienna
Medical University of Vienna is one of the most traditional medical education and research facilities in Europe. With almost 8,000 students, it is currently the largest medical training centre in the German-speaking countries. With 5,500 employees, 27 departments and three clinical institutes, 12 medical theory centres and numerous highly specialised laboratories, it is also one of Europe's leading research establishments in the biomedical sector.
About ANGLE plc www.angleplc.com
ANGLE is a world leading liquid biopsy company with sample-to-answer solutions. ANGLE's proven patent protected platforms include an epitope-independent circulating tumor cell (CTC) harvesting technology and a downstream analysis system for cost effective, highly multiplexed analysis of nucleic acids and proteins.
ANGLE's cell separation technology is called the Parsortix® system, and it enables a liquid biopsy (a simple blood test) to be used to provide the cells of interest to the user in a format suitable for multiple downstream subsequent analyses. CTCs enable the complete picture of a cancer to be seen as they allow DNA, RNA and protein analysis and the live cells harvested can be cultured. The Parsortix technology is the subject of 24 granted patents in Europe, the United States, China, Australia, Canada, India, Japan and Mexico with three extensive families of patents are being progressed worldwide. The system is based on a microfluidic device that captures cells based on a combination of their size and compressibility. The Parsortix system has a CE Mark in Europe for the indicated use and FDA clearance is in process for the United States with a 400 subject study in metastatic breast cancer. ANGLE is seeking to be the first ever FDA cleared CTC harvesting system and only the third ever FDA cleared liquid biopsy test. ANGLE has already undertaken two separate 200 subject clinical studies under a program designed to develop an ovarian cancer pelvic mass triage test, with the results showing best in class accuracy (ROC-AUC) of 95.1%. The pelvic mass triage assay has undergone further refinement and optimisation, and is currently in the process of a 200 patient clinical verification study.
ANGLE's technology for the multiplex evaluation of proteins and nucleic acids of all types is called the HyCEADTM Ziplex® platform and is based on a patented flow through array technology. It provides for low cost, highly multiplexed, rapid and sensitive capture of targets from a wide variety of sample types. A proprietary chemistry approach (the HyCEAD method) allows for the capture and amplification of over 100 biomarkers simultaneously in a single reaction. The HyCEAD Ziplex system is ideal for measuring gene expression and other markers directly from Parsortix harvests and was used in the ovarian cancer pelvic mass triage test to achieve best in class accuracy (ROC-AUC) of 95.1%.
ANGLE's proprietary technologies can be combined to provide automated, sample-to-answer results in both centralised laboratory and point-of-use cartridge formats.
ANGLE has established formal collaborations with world-class cancer centres and major corporates such as Abbott, Philips and QIAGEN, and works closely with leading CTC translational research customers. These Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are working to identify applications with medical utility (clear benefit to patients), and to secure clinical data that demonstrates that utility in patient studies. The body of evidence as to the benefits of the Parsortix system is growing rapidly from our own clinical studies in metastatic breast cancer and ovarian cancer and also from KOLs with 23 peer-reviewed publications and numerous publicly available posters, available on our website.
