- Bard1 Life Sciences (BD1) sees its auto-antibody test results for ovarian cancer published in an international, peer-reviewed journal
- The study data, published in the Genes journal, displayed positive results from its studies in ovarian cancer using the BARD1-Ovarian blood test, which took place at the University of Geneva under a research agreement
- BARD1-Ovarian is a blood test in development used for early detection of ovarian cancer in high-risk women
- The company says it plans to undertake further studies to expand indications for a screening test for early detection of ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women
- Bard1 Life Sciences last traded at $1.95 on June 28
Bard1 Life Sciences (BD1) has seen its autoantibody test results for ovarian cancer published in an international, peer-reviewed journal.
The study data published in the journal, Genes, displayed positive results from its OC-CA125 and OC-R001 studies in ovarian cancer using the BARD1-Ovarian blood test, which took place at the University of Geneva under a research agreement.
BARD1-Ovarian is a blood test in development for early detection of ovarian cancer in high-risk women. The test measures multiple BARD1 autoantibodies and CA125 in the blood and uses a proprietary diagnostic algorithm to combine these levels into a cancer score that identifies the presence or absence of ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer in women worldwide, which saw around 314,000 new cases diagnosed and 207,000 deaths in 2020. Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage after symptoms have appeared, resulting in a poor prognosis and an overall five-year survival rate of only 49 per cent in the US.
The company says there is a clear, unmet clinical need for non-invasive, accurate and affordable diagnostic tests for the early detection and monitoring of ovarian cancer. As such, the company has been exploring several approaches for developing an accurate and reliable blood test for earlier detection of ovarian cancer using its proprietary BARD1 autoantibody and SubB2M technologies.
BD1 says the global ovarian cancer diagnostics market is estimated to be worth US$1.8 billion (around A$2.38 billion) by 2026.
In the study, the BARD1 auto-antibody approach used a research-stage enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) performed on a meso scale discovery platform to detect autoantibodies to BARD1 variant proteins.
While this showed promising data, the company says considerable further assay development and technical validation on a commercial assay platform is required before moving towards clinical development of a potential commercial test.
Additionally, the company is developing a SubB2M-based approach that detects a pan-cancer marker called Neu5Gc. Proof of concept results showed accuracy for detection of ovarian cancer, with 100 per cent sensitivity and specificity across all stages compared to healthy controls.
SubB2M-based ELISA blood tests are currently being developed for monitoring treatment response and recurrence in women previously diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
The company says it also plans to undertake further studies to expand indications for use of a SubB2M-based ELISA to a screening test for early detection of ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women.
Bard1 Life Sciences last traded at $1.95 on June 28.