ANGLE plc:Prostate cancer ARV7 treatment biomarker

RNS Number : 1632B

Angle PLC

08 January 2018

 

For immediate release

8 January 2018

ANGLE plc ("the Company")

RESEARCH DEMONSTRATES USE OF PARSORTIX^TM LIQUID BIOPSY TO DETECT ARV7 IN PROSTATE CANCER AS A TREATMENT SELECTION BIOMARKER

Parsortix-based ARV7 test may provide a wider understanding of ARV7 than other techniques with the potential for improved patient outcomes

Independent research estimates that an ARV7 test could save, on average, at least $5,000 per patient tested 

ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, is delighted to announce that the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) together with the Medical University of Graz (Graz) and the Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University (SciLifeLab) have published results of work demonstrating that ANGLE's Parsortix^TM system can be used to measure the expression of ARV7 (androgen receptor splice variant 7) transcripts in later stage prostate cancer patients. 

The research has been published in Clinical Chemistry.  A copy of the publication is available on ANGLE's website here https://angleplc.com/library/publications/.

Measurement of the expression of ARV7 on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) obtained from a blood test¹ has previously been studied and found to correlate with patient response to novel hormone therapy (NHT) drugs (Enzalutamide and Abiraterone).  Where ARV7 is positively expressed, patients are unlikely to respond to NHT and benefit from moving directly to taxane-based chemotherapies. Where ARV7 is not expressed, patients do better when receiving NHT first and only moving to chemotherapy subsequently.

Researchers believe that an ARV7 test utilising the Parsortix system for CTC enrichment could provide key advantages over other approaches.  These include:

·     the ability to analyse mesenchymal CTCs, so called CK (cytokeratin) negative cells, which are not captured by other CTC systems.  In their research, UKE, Graz and SciLifeLab found a population of CK negative ARV7 positive cells that would not have been detected with the other label-dependent enrichment methods tested.

·     the ability to analyse the number of ARV7 transcripts on each CTC.  Existing approaches are limited to the presence or absence of ARV7 in the whole population of cells or require elaborate technologies to isolate CTCs that are available only at a small number of specialised centres.

·     the ability to analyse the proportion of CTCs with ARV7 transcripts.  Using the Parsortix system, researchers were able to enumerate the numbers of CTCs with and without ARV7. 

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease and this increased level of resolution in analysis of ARV7 could add important understanding of how best to treat the patient.  

Independent research has also suggested that, in addition to improved patient outcomes, avoiding the use of expensive NHT drugs when the patient is ARV7 positive has the potential to reduce the cost for healthcare resources.  A cost-benefit analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology estimated that an ARV7 test costing $1,000 per patient would result in cost savings averaging $5,000 per patient, with cost saving of at least $20,000 per patient with a positive ARV7 result.

Dr Amin El-Heliebi, Principal Investigator, Medical University of Graz, commented:

"Use of the Parsortix system has, for the first time to our knowledge, made it possible to investigate the number of cells expressing the ARV7 transcript as a proportion of the total number of CTCs and for the first time it has been possible to investigate the number of ARV7 transcripts on a particular cell.  This approach may allow us to improve clinical performance in this key area of prostate cancer treatment."

ANGLE's Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, added:

"The measurement of ARV7 in later stage prostate cancer patients is one of a few accepted clinical uses of CTCs and is already offered as a laboratory-developed test by a small number of centres.  We believe that the Parsortix system has specific advantages in measurement of ARV7 and has the potential for wide adoption in therapy selection." 

1.   ARV7 analysis requires the investigation of CTCs as undertaken by the Parsortix system and cannot be undertaken using the alternative ctDNA approach utilised by other companies.

For further information ANGLE:

ANGLE plc	[phone]
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive Ian Griffiths, Finance Director
finnCap Ltd (NOMAD and Joint Broker) Corporate Finance - Adrian Hargrave, Simon Hicks, Kate Bannatyne Corporate Broking - Alice Lane, Nikita Jain	[phone]
WG Partners (Joint Broker) Nigel Barnes, Nigel Birks, Andrew Craig, Chris Lee	[phone]
FTI Consulting Simon Conway, Mo Noonan, Stephanie Cuthbert Kimberly Ha (US)	[phone] [phone]

For Frequently Used Terms, please see the Company's website on http://www.angleplc.com/the-parsortix-system/glossary/

This announcement contains inside information.

Notes for editors

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^TM system and it enables a liquid biopsy (simple blood test) to be used to provide the cells of interest. Parsortix is the subject of granted patents in Europe, the United States, Canada, India, China, Japan and Australia and three extensive families of patents are being progressed worldwide. The system is based on a microfluidic device that captures live cells based on a combination of their size and compressibility. The Parsortix system has a CE Mark for Europe and FDA clearance is in process for the United States. 

ANGLE's analysis technology for proteins and nucleic acids of all types is based on a patented flow through array technology.  It provides for highly multiplexed, rapid and sensitive capture of targets from a wide variety of sample types.  A proprietary chemistry allows for the capture and amplification of over 100 biomarkers simultaneously in a single reaction.  These technologies can be combined to provide fully automated, sample to answer results in both centralized laboratory and point of use cartridge formats.  It is ideal for measuring gene expression and other markers directly from Parsortix harvests.

ANGLE has established formal collaborations with world-class cancer centres.  These Key Opinion Leaders are working to identify applications with medical utility (clear benefit to patients), and to secure clinical data that demonstrates that utility in patient studies.  Details are available here http://www.angleplc.com/the-company/collaborators/ 

The analysis of the cells that can be harvested from patient blood with ANGLE's Parsortix system has the potential to help deliver personalised cancer care offering profound improvements in clinical and health economic outcomes in the treatment and diagnosis of various forms of cancer.

The global increase in cancer to a 1 in 3 lifetime incidence is set to drive a multi-billion dollar clinical market. The Parsortix system is designed to be compatible with existing major medtech analytical platforms and to act as a companion diagnostic for major pharma in helping to identify patients that will benefit from a particular drug and then monitoring the drug's effectiveness.

As well as cancer, the Parsortix technology has the potential for deployment with several other important cell types in the future. ANGLE biomarker analysis platforms are adaptable to measure protein and nucleic acid biomarkers across the full spectrum of disease applications.

ANGLE stock trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AGL and in New York on the OTC-QX under the ticker symbol ANPCY. For further information please visit: www.angleplc.com

 

END

 

 

MSCEAXFXEFLPEFF