Barts Prostate Cancer Update

RNS Number : 8379P

Angle PLC

11 June 2015

 

For immediate release

11 June 2015

ANGLE plc

("ANGLE" or "the Company")

PARSORTIX SYSTEM HARVESTS CTCS IN 100% OF PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS

Barts study demonstrates Parsortix harvested cells are clinically relevant in prostate cancer

ANGLE plc (AIM: AGL OTCQX: ANPCY), the specialist medtech company, is delighted to announce new results from its key opinion leader, Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), investigating the clinical use of the Parsortix system in prostate cancer patients.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men and the fourth most common overall. More than 1.1 million cases of prostate cancer were recorded in 2012, accounting for around 8 per cent of all new cancer cases and 15 per cent in men (Source: World Cancer Research Fund International).

BCI, part of Queen Mary University of London's School of Medicine & Dentistry,  is home to world-class clinical, translational and basic scientific research and is one of the top five cancer research centres in the UK. BCI is publishing the results of the most recent phase of its work at a symposium hosted by the British Association for Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK on "Evolution and Intratumoural Heterogeneity" being held today at the Royal Society of Medicine, London.  A copy of the poster publication is available on the ANGLE website here http://www.angleplc.com/the-parsortix-system/download-files/.

The results published today come from an initial study of 52 prostate cancer patient samples of which 44 were with metastatic and 8 were with localised diseases. 

Using the Parsortix system, BCI researchers were able to successfully harvest CTCs from 100% of the patients.  The Parsortix system harvested a range of different circulating cells comprising not only CK+ cells (epithelial cells), which can be captured using traditional antibody-based capture systems, but also CK- Vimentin+ cells (mesenchymal cells).  The latter are known to play a crucial role in the process of cancer metastasis, which leads to secondary cancers - the most common cause of death from cancer - and cannot be captured using traditional antibody-based systems. 

Although it has limitations in detecting cancer, for patients known to have prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in the blood are widely used as a clinical marker to assess cancer progression. The number of mesenchymal cells harvested by the Parsortix system correlated much more strongly with PSA levels than the epithelial cells.  BCI is the first group to demonstrate the correlation between mesenchymal cells and PSA levels in prostate cancer patients.  This breakthrough research suggests that the cells harvested by the Parsortix system are clinically relevant and offers the potential for the Parsortix system to be used to provide a repeatable, non-invasive liquid biopsy for prostate cancer patients.

BCI researchers are continuing to expand the work undertaken with more patient numbers and with ongoing follow-up of the patients studied so far.  In addition they are investigating:

·     the viability of CTCs after their harvest from the Parsortix system and the potential to culture them. Culturing CTCs could provide a way to test the likely effectiveness of a proposed treatment before administering the patient with a given drug

·     the molecular biomarkers in the CTCs harvested by the Parsortix system to predict prostate cancer patient outcome and response to therapies. 

Dr Yong-Jie Lu, Reader in Medical Oncology at Barts Cancer Institute, commented:

"This work has confirmed the ability of the Parsortix system to harvest clinically relevant mesenchymal cells and that these cells correlate with the patient PSA level, the current gold standard for assessing whether the patient's prostate cancer is progressing.  We are looking forward to the next stage of the work investigating molecular biomarkers on the harvested cells and hope that this may help guide effective treatment for prostate cancer patients in the future."

ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:

"The prospect of deployment of our repeatable, non-invasive liquid biopsy in the treatment of prostate cancer patients in therapy selection and remission monitoring is exciting.  These findings are encouraging and we look forward to further developments as soon as possible."  

For further information:

ANGLE plc	01483 685830
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive Ian Griffiths, Finance Director
Cenkos Securities Stephen Keys, Dr Christopher Golden (Nominated adviser) Russell Kerr, Olly Baxendale (Sales)	020 7397 8900
Buchanan Mark Court, Sophie Cowles, Jane Glover	020 7466 5000

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

Notes for editors

About ANGLE plc     www.angleplc.com 

ANGLE is a specialist medtech company commercialising a disruptive platform technology that can capture cells circulating in blood, such as cancer cells, even when they are as rare in number as one cell in one billion blood cells, and harvest the cells for analysis.

ANGLE's cell separation technology is called the Parsortix 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 the United States, China and Australia and 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 is established with strong positive evaluations from leading cancer research centres and is working with these cancer centres to demonstrate key applications. Parsortix has a CE Mark for Europe and FDA authorisation is in process for the United States. 

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 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.

Now that the Parsortix system has been developed, ANGLE is focused on its commercialisation in the market. 

ANGLE is strongly focused on establishing the use of the Parsortix system in clinical practice.  To achieve this, 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.  ANGLE believes this is the optimal approach for unlocking the multi-billion dollar worldwide market available to the Company and its potential strategic partners.  Details are available here http://www.angleplc.com/the-company/collaborators/

As well as cancer, the Parsortix technology has the potential for deployment with several other important cell types in the future.

ANGLE began trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in March 2004 under the ticker symbol AGL. For further information please visit: www.angleplc.com.

About Barts Cancer Institute   http://www.bci.qmul.ac.uk/about-us 

Barts Cancer Institute is part of the Barts Cancer Research UK Centre of Excellence and one of the top five cancer research centres in the UK.

Barts Cancer Institute, within the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, was recently placed in the top ten medical schools in the UK and world-wide.

Located in the Centre of London in Charterhouse Square - 1 of 3 Queen Mary University of London campuses - over 40 research groups across Barts Cancer Institute's six specialist Centres create world-class outputs in research, clinical trials and teaching.

 

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