EarlyCDT Lung Blood Test Featured on ITV News

RNS Number : 5697V

Oncimmune Holdings PLC

10 August 2020

 

10 August 2020

Oncimmune Holdings plc

("Oncimmune" or the "Company")

EarlyCDT ^® Lung Blood Test Featured on ITV News

Pioneering New Blood Test Enables Early Detection to Save Lives

Oncimmune Holdings plc (AIM: ONC.L), the leading global immunodiagnostics group, is pleased to note the national ITV News¹ feature last weekend on Oncimmune's EarlyCDT ^® Lung blood test titled "New Blood Test Provides Breakthrough in Lung Cancer Detection Rates".

The news feature highlighted that, in the UK, more than 35,000 people die of lung cancer each year and most have their lung cancer diagnosed late thereby lowering their chances of survival. Oncimmune's pioneering new lung cancer blood test enables lung cancer to be detected early which means clinicians can treat the disease and save lives.

Oncimmune's technology focuses on identifying the immune system's response to the presence of lung cancer. The body produces antibodies which, if detected by Oncimmune's blood test, enables clinicians to focus their diagnosis on identifying the disease and treating it earlier than current clinical practice.

The news article noted that Oncimmune's EarlyCDT Lung blood test has received a Medtech Innovation Briefing ("MIB") from the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence ("NICE"). NICE reviewed EarlyCDT Lung for cancer risk stratification of indeterminate pulmonary nodules ("IPNs"). The briefing, intended to support NHS commissioners and staff who are considering using new medical or diagnostic technologies, states that EarlyCDT Lung enables earlier and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer in high risk patients which could mean intervention is offered early, with the potential benefit of early treatment and improved outcomes. The MIB also notes that this could have a wider benefit by saving other NHS resources (CT scanning and radiologists) and reducing waiting times.

The ITV news report concluded by saying that "the test has been recommended for use in the NHS and, if given full approval, many more patients could benefit from screening for this deadly disease."

Adam M Hill, CEO of Oncimmune said:  "We are delighted that Oncimmune's EarlyCDT Lung blood test has received such international publicity. The benefits of offering patients the opportunity to identify lung cancer early are clear - early detection of this disease saves lives. We are actively engaged across the NHS to bring the blood test to clinicians and patients."

¹   https://www.itv.com/news/2020-08-08/new-blood-test-provides-breakthrough-in-lung-cancer-detection-rates

For further information:

Oncimmune Holdings plc

Adam Hill, Chief Executive Officer

Matthew Hall, Chief Financial Officer

[e-mail]

Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

Andrew Jones, Daniel Harris, Victoria Ayton

[phone]

finnCap (Joint Broker)

Geoff Nash, Matthew Radley, Tim Redfern

[phone]

Media enquiries:

FTI Consulting

Ben Atwell, Michael Trace, Alex Davis

[e-mail]

[phone]

About Oncimmune

Our intimate understanding of the human immune system enables us to harness its sophisticated response to disease to detect cancer earlier and to support the development of better therapies.

The key to improving cancer survival is early detection and better selection for therapy. As a company, we are driven by our passion to improve cancer survival and give people extra time. Oncimmune's immunodiagnostic test, EarlyCDT, can detect and help identify cancer on average four years earlier than standard clinical diagnosis.

The unique combination of our core technology and understanding of the immune system, powers our ImmunoINSIGHTS service; a proprietary platform that enables life science organisations to optimise drug development and delivery, leading to more effective, targeted as well as safer treatments for patients.

Oncimmune was founded in 2002 and launched its platform diagnostic technology in 2009, followed by the launch of its first commercial tests, EarlyCDT Lung and EarlyCDT Liver. To date, over 200,000 tests have been performed for patients worldwide. EarlyCDT Lung was also used in what is believed to be the largest randomised controlled trial for the early detection of lung cancer using biomarkers, the successful National Health Service (NHS) Early detection of Cancer of the Lung ("ECLS") trial of 12,208 high-risk smokers in Scotland. This trial demonstrated that EarlyCDT Lung reduced the incidence of patients with late-stage lung cancer or unclassified presentation at diagnosis, compared to standard clinical practice.

Oncimmune, headquartered at its laboratory facility in Nottingham, UK, has a discovery research centre in Dortmund, Germany and a partner representative office in Shanghai, China. Oncimmune joined the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange in May 2016 under the ticker ONC.L.

What is EarlyCDT Lung?

EarlyCDT is a simple blood test that detects the elevated presence of autoantibodies generated by the body's immune system as a natural defence against cancer cells.

EarlyCDT Lung is the world's most thoroughly validated blood test for the detection of lung cancer and requires only a small volume of blood which can be taken using a test in the home or community setting as well as a doctor's surgery. Shown to detect lung cancer on average four years earlier compared to current standard clinical diagnosis, EarlyCDT Lung can also provide an effective assessment of cancer risk in indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs).

Details of the ECLS trial

The trial was open to adults aged 50-75 considered to be at high risk of lung cancer because of smoking and family history, and healthy enough to undergo potentially curative therapy. The intervention was the EarlyCDT Lung test, followed by X-ray and computerised tomography (CT) scan in those with a positive test result. The comparator was standard clinical practice in the UK. The primary endpoint was the difference, at 24 months after randomisation, between the rates of patients with stage III, IV or unclassified lung cancer at diagnosis in the intervention arm and those in the control arm.

The trial was supported by the University of Dundee, NHS Tayside and co-funded by Oncimmune, the Scottish Chief Scientist Office and the Scottish Government. It was headed by Chief Investigators Professor Frank Sullivan, Professor of Primary Care Medicine at the University of St. Andrews, and Dr Stuart Schembri, until recently consultant Physician in Respiratory and General Internal Medicine at NHS Tayside. It involved collaborators at the University of Glasgow, with further work from the Universities of Aberdeen, Nottingham and Toronto, NHS Scotland, the Scottish Government, The Canberra Hospital and Oncimmune, who developed the EarlyCDT Lung blood test. Tayside Clinical Trials Unit was responsible for trial delivery, data management and analysis.

The abstract was presented by Chief Investigator for the trial, Professor Sullivan in the Presidential Symposium of the World Conference for Lung Cancer 2019, the world's largest meeting dedicated to lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, hosting more than 7,000 delegates from more than 100 countries.

The peer review of the ECLS trial was published in The European Respiratory Journal at https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2020/07/09/13993003.00670-2020

In February 2020, Oncimmune launched a series of photographs for an exhibition titled 'Extra Time. Portraits of hope and survival from early cancer detection'. Behind the science of the ECLS study were human stories. 'Extra Time' highlighted the stories of the medical professionals who worked relentlessly to identify people who met the criteria for the study, invited them to take part, undertook tests as well as monitoring their progress. But most importantly, 'Extra Time' shone a light on the stories of the people themselves who took part, as well as their families, friends and support networks. These stories illustrate the unmet patient need for diagnosing lung cancer in its early stages and is now available to view online www.extratime.gallery.

For more information, visit  www.oncimmune.com

 

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