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The company is developing three ovarian cancer blood tests which have the potential to:
Improve the ability to distinguish between benign and malignant tumors
Diagnose early-stage disease
Predict prognosis and recurrence
The most advanced of Vermillion’s ovarian diagnostic programs is the Ovarian Tumor Triage Test, which utilizes a panel of biomarkers to help identify women with cancer so they can be referred directly to a gynecologic oncologist for their initial surgery, thus improving survival rates and potentially reducing the number of second surgeries performed.
Vermilion intends to submit clinical trial data on the Ovarian Tumor Triage Test to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clearance as an in vitro diagnostic test in the coming months.
More than 10 million women are considered to be at high risk for ovarian cancer based on several risk factors, including family history. Vermillion is applying its biomarker technology capabilities to develop a simple blood test that could be used to triage these patients and allow detection of the disease at its earliest stages, when treatment is more effective and survival rates are higher.
Results from a recent study presented at the 15th International Meeting of the European Society of Gynecologic Oncology (ESGO) found that Vermillion’s panel of biomarkers in combination with CA-125, a commonly used tumor marker for ovarian cancer, could more accurately identify early-stage ovarian cancer than could CA-125 alone. Vermillion plans to initiate additional studies for the test in the coming year.
Vermillion is developing a blood test to help predict prognosis of ovarian cancer, which may help patients and physicians make more informed treatment decisions. A study presented at ESGO in October 2007 found that Vermillion's biomarker panel could accurately and with statistical significance predict women with ovarian cancer who had good prognosis from those who did not.
Ovarian cancer is cancer that begins in the ovaries, or sometimes in the fallopian tubes. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS):
Approximately 22,430 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed this year, and 15,280 deaths will be reported as a result of the disease.
The eighth most common cancer among women, excluding non-melanoma skin cancers, ovarian cancer accounts for about 3 percent of all cancers in women.
When diagnosed at its earliest stages, ovarian cancer has a 5-year survival rate of 93 percent. However, only 19 percent of ovarian cancers are diagnosed before the tumor has spread outside the ovary. For late-stage disease, the 5-year survival rate falls to 18 percent. Thus, early diagnosis and treatment is critical for improving long-term outcomes for ovarian cancer patients.
For more information, visit www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/ovarian/.
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