RICHMOND, British Columbia, May 28, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- BioCurex Inc. (OTCBB:BOCX) today announced that it has developed an ELISA blood test using RECAF technology and reports results comparable to its other test formats.
The advantage of the ELISA test format is that it is the most commonly used type of immuno-assay and as such, the majority of clinical and research laboratories have the instrumentation for its use. ELISA stands for Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay. BioCurex views the development as an important milestone in its efforts to commercialize its RECAF technology for cancer detection.
BioCurex initially developed its cancer detection tests using the radio-immunoassay (RIA) for RECAF detection. RIA is a very sensitive method to test minute amounts of substances in blood. This format served to demonstrate the proof of concept. After considerable study, BioCurex was subsequently successful in developing a chemiluminescence assay, which is the format used by a majority of proprietary high throughput automated instruments. Results using both formats have been presented to the scientific community and demonstrate that these blood tests have very high sensitivity and specificity in detecting most types of cancers. Additionally, BioCurex is advancing its development of a point-of-care (rapid test) which has also been shown to work in the detection of various types of cancers. The rapid test is intended to be used at the doctor's office and it should not be confused with ELISA, RIA or chemiluminescence, which are used in the laboratory for manual or automated testing.
With the completion of the RECAF-ELISA blood test, BioCurex can now provide clinical as well as research laboratories with a test that can be easily shipped and used without the proprietary restrictions of automatic instruments. While this RECAF test can operate on some automated instruments, it is designed for standard 96 well ELISA plates and can be carried out in practically any lab worldwide. This should accomplish two important objectives: The first one is to disseminate samples of the RECAF tests among many different laboratories to further evaluate, validate, and expand Biocurex's test results. The second objective is the prompt commercialization of these tests, directly by BioCurex or through its licensees.
BioCurex is very pleased to report the results obtained using the RECAF-ELISA test on 77 bladder, kidney, stomach, and other types of cancer samples in comparison to 93 normal donor samples. It also compared the results with the chemiluminescence format. The results evidence a sensitivity of 90% with 95% specificity. Sensitivity is the ability of a test to detect existing cancers (if all patients who have a cancer test positive = 100% sensitivity).
Specificity represents how well the test avoids false positives (no false positives = 100% specificity). The regression coefficient (r) between the RECAF-ELISA and the RECAF-chemiluminescence test was 0.92 (maximum = 1) and the diagnostic correspondence between both tests was 97.8%. The work was done in collaboration with the Blokhin Cancer Research Centre, Moscow, Russia, and BioCurex expects to present the results at an International cancer congress later this year.
Dr. Moro, CEO of BioCurex stated: "This is an important milestone for us because it will allow us to (a) ship and demonstrate to the scientific community at large the significance of what we have developed; and (b) engage in the commercialization of Manual tests based on this format. It is worth mentioning that this format was developed in a rather short period of time because of the work done on the chemistry of RECAF over the past 2-3 years. It demonstrates our success in understanding the very unusual chemistry of RECAF well enough to suit the practical needs of a commercial test. The results are excellent and provide further evidence of the value of the RECAF blood test for cancer detection. Furthermore, our results with both formats show that bladder and kidney cancers are also detected with high sensitivity and specificity."
BioCurex intends to expand on its plans to commercialize this test in future disclosures.
About BioCurex:
BioCurex, Inc. is a biotechnology company that is developing products based on patented/proprietary technology in the areas of cancer diagnosis, imaging and therapy. The technology identifies a cancer marker known as RECAF(tm), which is found on malignant cells from a variety of cancer types but is absent in most normal or benign cells.
The cancer marker RECAF(tm) has emerged as a potential biomarker that may be useful in the development of new cancer diagnostics tests. Preliminary studies from the investigators at BioCurex have reported a high level of clinical sensitivity and specificity for RECAF in many of the most common cancers, including prostate, breast, colorectal, lung and others.
To read more about the Company, please visit the News section in our web site (www.biocurex.com).
Note:
The Company has not authorized the release of this information in any form that contravenes the Communication Act and will not be responsible for unsolicited massive distribution of this material by e-mail or facsimile by unauthorized parties. Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning given to that term in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results.