Alliance to Develop Test for Prostatic Neoplasia

A collaboration has been announced to develop a blood or urine test for high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), a premalignant lesion that has the potential to progress to prostate cancer. The two companies involved are GTx, Inc. (Memphis, TN, USA) and Tessera, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN, USA).

Men who harbor PIN are thought to be at greater risk for developing prostate cancer within 10 years. Currently, high-grade PIN diagnosis is only detected when men are biopsied. High-grade PIN is found in an average of 9% of prostate biopsies.

Under the terms of the agreement, GTx will provide clinical samples from its completed phase IIb clinical trial program that evaluated Acapodene (toremifene citrate) for the reduction of incidence of prostate cancer in men with high-grade PIN. Acapodene, a nonsteroidal selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), appears to block estrogen's unwanted actions on the prostate. The partnership will evaluate the use of Tessera's ProstaMark early prostate cancer antigen (EPCA) to identify patients with PIN lesions and/or early stage prostate cancer.

"When a blood or serum test to detect PIN is discovered, we believe Acapodene can provide this large number of men who are at high risk of developing prostate cancer the opportunity to reduce the risk that they will develop this disease,” explained Mitchell Steiner, M.D., CEO of GTx.



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Tessera