BARD1 reports success in non-invasive ovarian cancer detection study

Biotech stock BARD1 Life Sciences (ASX: BD1) has achieved positive results in its non-invasive ovarian cancer diagnostic study.

The OC-400 study revealed the company’s BARD1-Ovarian test yielded high accuracy in detecting ovarian cancer with an average area under the curve of 82% sensitivity and 79% specificity in the test sets.

BARD1-Ovarian is a ELISA-based blood test for detecting early stages of ovarian cancer. The test works by measuring autoantibodies in the blood combined with the company’s proprietary algorithm to create a score that identifies the presence of ovarian cancer.

The company aims to commercialise the test for use in early detection in high risk women, as well as assessing pelvic masses and monitoring for recurrence.

As part of the study, 400 female ovarian cancer samples were used and age-matched with healthy controls. Using its proof of concept method, BARD1-Ovarian was able to discriminate ovarian cancer from unaffected controls. Additionally, the 20-analyte panel was able to detect all subtypes and stages of ovarian cancer.

According to BARD1, the study confirmed the test’s potential to be commercialised, particularly because less analytes were used to get the results, which could reduce the test’s complexity and cost.

The company also claimed its ovarian test could provide “improved performance” to the CA 125 blood test, which is currently used to detect the cancer.

“This study showed that using the proof of concept method, BARD1-Ovarian achieved better sensitivity and specificity in a sample set from multiple sites with a reduced number of analytes than previously reported in the OC-300 study,” BARD1 executive director Dr Irmgard Irminger-Finger said.

BARD1 chief executive officer Dr Leearne Hinch said the reduced analyte panel was a step forward in ensuring BARD1-Ovarian was accurate and affordable in testing for ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is one of the largest causes of cancer deaths in women resulting in 152,000 deaths worldwide in 2012 and 239,000 new cases.

Due to its lack of symptoms untill later stages, ovarian cancer is often diagnosed too late and leads to poor prognosis. The disease has an overall five-year survival rate of 46% in the US, with a 70% chance of recurrence after 18 months.

Catching the cancer before it metastasises can boost five-year survival rates to 92%.

According to BARD1, the global ovarian cancer diagnostics market was worth about US$7.2 billion in 2013 and is predicted to be valued at US$11.8 billion by 2020.

The company’s share price sky-rocketed today before settling at A$0.013 – up 62.50% at close of trade.