Exiqon Lands Exclusive License for Prostate Cancer Biomarkers

Danish diagnostics maker Exiqon announced Wednesday that it has an exclusive license to prostate cancer biomarkers discovered and validated by Aarhus University Hospital. The biomarkers consist of gene-specific methylation patterns that are associated with the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.

The predictive potential of the biomarkers was validated in two European trials with 293 and 114 patients, respectively, with 10-year follow-up and removal of malignant prostates. Moreover, they have shown potential to distinguish between cancerous and benign tumors with sensitivities of up to 93 percent at a fixed specificity of 97 percent, Exiqon says.

Aarhus Professor Torben Ørntoft says finding biomarkers with such promising potential is rare and bodes well for the development of better tests for prostate cancer.

Current diagnosis of prostate cancer relies largely on blood-based, prostate-specific antigen tests, which can result in up to 70 percent false positives. A positive test is followed by a transrectal biopsy, which in turn has a 30 percent false negative rate, Exiqon says. Test outcomes help doctors decide whether a patient’s prostate should be removed, a procedure with considerable quality of life consequences, the company adds.

Exiqon and Arhaus University Hospital have several grant-funded diagnostic collaborations underway, including validating microRNA biomarkers in urine for diagnosing prostate cancer and prognostic biomarkers for the identification of aggressive cancer. — Kellen Owings

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