PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Precision Therapeutics announces the release of a study, developed by physicians from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Columbia University, the University of Kentucky Medical Center and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Initial findings were accepted for publication in conjunction with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, being held June 1-5, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.
The study titled, In Vitro Chemoresponse Assay Results and Population Clinical Response Rates in Women with Ovarian Cancer, begins to answer the clinical question of whether the ChemoFx® in vitro drug response marker can be used to help determine tumor response to platinum chemotherapy agents. An evaluation of ChemoFx results for carboplatin/paclitaxel from 3,130 patient tumors with primary or recurrent epithelial ovarian cancers was conducted. Tumor response was classified as responsive, intermediately responsive, or non-responsive to chemotherapy. Responsive and intermediately responsive rates were combined in order to create a response rate for carboplatin/paclitaxel. The rates of pan-resistance, or non-responsive to all agents tested, was also examined in both primary and recurrent tumors. Findings showed ChemoFx response rates to carboplatin/paclitaxel were consistent with published population response rates for ovarian cancer and as expected, more aggressive histologic subtypes were less responsive to carboplatin/paclitaxel. This data suggests that ChemoFx provides tumor-specific information which may assist physicians in choosing individualized chemotherapy treatment plans for ovarian cancer patients.
“This intriguing data may one day help us in the personalization of chemotherapy for women with ovarian cancer,” says Dr. Scott Richard, lead author of the abstract. It is estimated that approximately 22,000 women in the United States will develop ovarian cancer in 2012.
About Precision Therapeutics
Precision Therapeutics, a leading life-science company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is dedicated to personalized cancer care. Precision offers a portfolio of products developed to help guide physicians and patients with difficult clinical decisions throughout the cancer care continuum.
Precision's state of the art Comprehensive Tumor Profiling is an integrated straightforward approach combining three core platforms of personalized medicine to capture the total sum of genomic, proteomic and functional information for each patient's cancer.
Precision's first commercial test, ChemoFx®, is a proprietary drug response marker which measures an individual's malignant tumor response to a range of standard therapeutic alternatives under consideration by a physician. Precision currently receives ChemoFx® specimens from 271 top medical institutions including 20 of the 21 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Member Institutions, and 8 of the US News and World Report Top 10 Hospitals for Cancer Care. To date, approximately 80,000 patient specimens have been submitted for ChemoFx® testing using 105 unique chemotherapy treatments and combinations.
For more information, visit: www.precisiontherapeutics.com or www.chemofx.com.