- BARD1 Life Sciences (BD1) has received positive results from a trial of its improved ovarian cancer test kit
- The new test uses the industry-standard Luminex diagnostic platform instead of the previously-used Meso Scale Diagnostics (MSD) platform
- The trial showed increased efficacy in diagnosing ovarian cancer from the same set of samples
- The BARD1 ovarian cancer test will next be trialled by the Mucosal Immunology Research Group at Griffith University to confirm the results
- The company will also continue to advance studies of similar tests for breast and lung cancers
- BARD1 Life Sciences is trading 7.41 per cent higher at 2.9 cents
BARD1 Life Sciences (BD1) has received positive results from a trial of its improved ovarian cancer test kit.
The University of Geneva study aimed to evaluate the company’s updated version (v2) of the Research Use Only (RUO) BARD1 kit. The trial confirmed the test’s efficacy in detecting ovarian cancer.
Upgraded kit
The BARD1 tests measure levels of autoantibodies to proteins in the blood (known as BARD1 proteins — which are how the company got its name) and use an algorithm to combine these levels into a cancer score that identifies the presence or absence of a specific cancer.
The first incarnation of the BARD1 kit used the Meso Scale Diagnostics (MSD) platform. The v2 kit instead used the Luminex platform — an industry-standard diagnostic platform used in clinical laboratories worldwide.
The use of the Luminex platform could potentially reduce development hurdles and enable broader commercial access to commercial BARD1 tests.
Aside from the practical and commercial advantages of the Luminex platform, the new trial tested the same samples as the MSD kit study and showed better results.
BARD1 CEO Dr Leearne Hinch says the results are a positive step in the test’s development.
“This is an important milestone, enabling us to confidently advance the development of a commercial BARD1 autoantibody test for ovarian cancer on the Luminex platform,” Dr Hinch said.
“Additionally, the Luminex platform can be applied for the development of other tests using our BARD1 autoantibody approach for breast and lung cancers,” she added.
Next steps
The BARD1 ovarian cancer test will next be trialled by the Mucosal Immunology Research Group at Griffith University.
The company will also continue to develop the non-invasive tests for breast and lung cancer. Previous research has indicated the company’s breast cancer test is effective in high-risk women with specific gene variants which predispose them to breast cancer.
BARD1 Founding Scientist and Executive Director Dr Irmgard Irminger-Finger said the company is aiming to design tests to help at-risk groups through non-invasive early diagnosis of potentially life-threatening diseases.
“The BARD1 splice variant proteins play an important role in cancer progression and prognosis,” Dr Irminger-Finger said.
“My vision is to develop accurate and reliable BARD1 autoantibody tests for early detection of breast and ovarian cancers with the potential to significantly improve treatment, health and survival outcomes for this important unmet clinical need in women’s health,” he concluded.
BARD1 Life Sciences is trading 7.41 per cent higher at 2.9 cents at 12:29 pm AEST.