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NetScientific’s portfolio company Glycotest unveils positive data from clinical evaluation of its liver cancer test

Published: 08:07 04 Jan 2018 GMT

blood test
The trials took place in China, where liver cancer is the leading cause of death

Glycotest, the majority-owned portfolio company of Netscientific PLC (LON:NSCI), has reported positive results from a clinical evaluation of its HCC Panel liver cancer test.

In a blind evaluation of 149 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) – the most common form of liver cancer – and control samples, the HCC Panel was able to determine whether or not a patient had liver cancer with a “high predictability”.

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For those who like the cold, hard figures, the diagnostic panel achieved an AUROC of 0.97 and exhibited 93% sensitivity and 92% specificity – all of which indicates that it’s pretty good at detecting liver cancer.

More effective than current tests

The results back up what Glycotest has found in two previous studies of the HCC Panel: that the diagnostic has the potential to outperform the current dominant blood test.

One of the fundamental issues with current liver cancer tests – generally an alpha-fetoprotein blood test (AFP)– is that they can often miss the tumour.

In a cohort of HCC patients whose tumours had gone undetected by those blood tests, the HCC Panel was able to identify 86% of patients with liver cancer.

In an early-stage cohort of patients with HCC, the HCC Panel was able to identify 78% of patients with liver cancer undetected by AFP blood tests.

US$1bn market

“We are delighted to announce the success of the Chinese clinical trial, which validates the previous clinical studies performed with a combined total of 335 patients,” said NetScientific chief executive Francois Martelet.

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“Given that liver cancer is the fastest growing cause of death in the US and the leading cause of death in China, we believe that the positive outcome of the trial will be very significant for patients suffering with HCC.

“Commercially, we believe the opportunity to be very attractive, with an estimated total accessible market of US$1bn annually.”

NetScientific, which holds an 87.5% stake in Glycotest, saw its shares open 5.1% higher at 72p on Thursday.

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