New Swedish Study at SABCS Shows DiviTum Blood Test Reduces Waiting Times for Evaluating Breast Cancer Treatment

The results from a study of 142 women with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer presented by researchers from Lund University at the world’s biggest breast cancer conference in San Antonio, USA has demonstrated that the DiviTum^® blood-based biomarker can provide more accurate prognosis than today’s standard methods.

With imaging methods used for evaluating the effect of treatment, it takes about three months to evaluate whether the given therapy is effective or not. The new study demonstrates that DiviTum accurately can predict outcome (progression free- and overall survival) already after one month. This dramatic shortening of the evaluation window can be key when making decisions to continue or change treatment and can contribute significantly to improved patient outcome. In addition, using a blood-based biomarker reduces the need for invasive biopsies.

DiviTum measures the activity of the enzyme thymidine kinase (TK) which reflects cell proliferation and associates strongly with tumor growth. At diagnosis in the study, low DiviTum values correlated significantly and independently with improved progression free- and overall survival (p<0.001). During treatment, DiviTum was significantly associated with outcome at each of four time points and onwards (Baseline, 1, 3 and 6 months). Patients in the study were treated with standard therapies, including endocrine therapy, chemotherapy and Herceptin^®, meaning that the value of DiviTum is demonstrated in a larger patient population than has previously been reported. Biovica have an ongoing trial program including more than 10 clinical studies and 1,500 patients to document the unique capabilities of the assay to become a new gold standard for early efficacy evaluation of patients with metastatic breast cancer.

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"The results demonstrate that already after just 1 month of treatment, DiviTum is a highly valuable marker for clinical use regarding accurate prognosis. Throughout the course of therapy DiviTum can provide clinical information for patients with metastatic breast cancer scheduled for 1st line systemic therapy”, says Lisa Rydén, Professor, Department of Surgery, Lund University.

"The study provides key documentation for DiviTum as a tool for putative evaluation of efficacy in a peripheral blood sample and we are delighted to publish these results in collaboration with Lund University. The study results contribute towards our objective of supplying DiviTum to oncologists as a standard tool for evaluating metastatic breast cancer treatment to improve patient outcome”, says Anders Rylander, CEO Biovica.