OncoVista (OVIT.OB) Subsidiary Inks Exclusive Agreement with TATAA Molecular Diagnostics

OncoVista Innovative Therapies, Inc. (OTCBB:OVIT) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, AdnaGen AG, the manufacturer of CE-certified circulating tumor cell (CTC) diagnostic assays, has entered into an agreement with TATAA Molecular Diagnostics, for the exclusive use of its Adnatest™ BreastCancer assays in an international breast cancer research COHERTA project. TATAA Molecular Diagnostics and its partner, the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Science, are funding the COHERTA study through a grant obtained from the Czech and Slovak subsidiaries of Hoffmann-La Roche the global drug manufacturer.

TATAA Molecular Diagnostics together with the Czech Academy of Science have been engaged in research since 2008 and have proven the effectiveness of AdnaGen AG new prognostic and predictive biomarkers. The purpose of this COHERTA project is to identify additional applications for the CTC-test in clinics.

The international COHERTA study is expected to take three years to complete and will be conducted in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The COHERTA study will focus on the most aggressive type of breast cancer, HER2, which is diagnosed in one out of three breast cancers. COHERTA intends to evaluate the relationship between the HER2 status of the metastasic tumors and the HER2 status of the circulating tumor cells using the Adnatest™ BreastCancer assay. The HER2 status is known to be a crucial marker for disease prognosis and therapy choice and it is established, that it may change from negative to positive throughout the disease progression. It has been reported that there is a significant number of patients who exhibit HER2-positive metastases who originally had HER2 negative tumors. Currently, the only way to evaluate the HER2-status of a tumor is through a biopsy of the tumor tissue.

The COHERTA study believes it can monitor circulating tumor cells with the Adnatest™ BreastCancer assay to identify the HER2 type of metastases, This would be a new and important application of the Adnatest™ BreastCancer blood test for patients with breast cancer relapse.

In addition, the COHERTA study team also believes that some patients might then benefit from biological therapy if their cancer type is characterized as HER2-positive. Herceptin, a biological therapy produced by Hoffman-La Roche, is typically prescribed to patients with HER2-positive tumor types.

The Czech team running the COHERTA study believes that analyzing CTC in peripheral blood may provide minimal invasive and more cost-effective diagnostic tools to reassess the HER2 status. “One can simply argue, that the CTC are most likely disseminated from the metastatic lesion and hence they should reflect its phenotype,” Dr. Ales Tichopad, the COHERTA coordinator says.

“OncoVista Innovative Therapies, Inc. is very pleased that AdnaGen’s Adnatest™ BreastCancer assays are being used exclusively in the COHERTA study. This next phase is another important step in identifying blood-based diagnostic and monitoring assays that work to the patient’s benefit,” said Dr. Alexander L. Weis, President and CEO of OncoVista. “The Adnatest™ BreastCancer is just one of several on which OncoVista has been working on. It’s subsidiary, AdnaGen AG, has also been developing and testing other CE-certified circulating tumor cell (CTC) diagnostic assays for prostate and colon cancers. Together with breast cancers, prostate and colon cancers are the three most frequent types of cancer diagnosed today.”

“In these economic times,” said Dr. Weis, “when drug companies, insurance providers, and patients are looking for better ways to test the effectiveness of oftentimes expensive, cancer therapies, a diagnostic blood test such as the Adnatest™ BreastCancer, can lead to better evaluation sooner and more cost-effective treatments with less, unnecessary suffering and toxic side-effects.”

OncoVista Innovative Therapies, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company involved in the development of targeted anticancer therapies by using tumor-associated biomarkers. In conjunction with its subsidiary, AdnaGen AG which is based in Langenhagen, Germany, the Company has developed and currently markets patented diagnostic kits in Europe for the detection of circulating tumor cells in patients with breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers under the brand name AdnaGen™. The Company has also developed research products for the detection of steroid receptors and cancer stem cells and has research contracts in place with major pharmaceutical companies and recognized U.S. research facilities.

OncoVista has an experienced management team specialized in the development of targeted, anticancer drugs led by Dr. Alexander L. Weis. OncoVista’s targeted drug development uses the proprietary, state-of-the-art molecular platform of AdnaGen AG.

Forward-Looking Statements: A number of statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the applicable statements. These risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the applicable statements.

OncoVista Innovative The... (CE) (USOTC:OVIT)
過去株価チャート
から 11 2024 まで 12 2024