RCS - Oncimmune Hldngs PLC - EarlyCDT Lung Blood Test Featured on ITV News

Oncimmune HoldingsAnnouncement

10/08/2020 07:00

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RNS Number : 5697V  Oncimmune Holdings PLC  10 August 2020

10 August 2020

 

 

Oncimmune Holdings plc

 

("Oncimmune" or the "Company")

 

 

EarlyCDT(®) Lung Blood Test Featured on ITV News

 

Pioneering New Blood Test Enables Early Detection to Save Lives

 

Oncimmune Holdings plc (AIM: ONC.L), the leading global immunodiagnostics
group, is pleased to note the national ITV News(1) feature last weekend on
Oncimmune's EarlyCDT(®) Lung blood test titled "New Blood Test Provides
Breakthrough in Lung Cancer Detection Rates".

 

The news feature highlighted that, in the UK, more than 35,000 people die of
lung cancer each year and most have their lung cancer diagnosed late thereby
lowering their chances of survival. Oncimmune's pioneering new lung cancer
blood test enables lung cancer to be detected early which means clinicians can
treat the disease and save lives.

 

Oncimmune's technology focuses on identifying the immune system's response to
the presence of lung cancer. The body produces antibodies which, if detected
by Oncimmune's blood test, enables clinicians to focus their diagnosis on
identifying the disease and treating it earlier than current clinical
practice.

 

The news article noted that Oncimmune's EarlyCDT Lung blood test has received
a Medtech Innovation Briefing ("MIB") from the UK's National Institute for
Health and Care Excellence ("NICE"). NICE reviewed EarlyCDT Lung for cancer
risk stratification of indeterminate pulmonary nodules ("IPNs"). The briefing,
intended to support NHS commissioners and staff who are considering using new
medical or diagnostic technologies, states that EarlyCDT Lung enables earlier
and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer in high risk patients which could mean
intervention is offered early, with the potential benefit of early treatment
and improved outcomes. The MIB also notes that this could have a wider benefit
by saving other NHS resources (CT scanning and radiologists) and reducing
waiting times.

 

The ITV news report concluded by saying that "the test has been recommended
for use in the NHS and, if given full approval, many more patients could
benefit from screening for this deadly disease."

 

Adam M Hill, CEO of Oncimmune said: "We are delighted that Oncimmune's
EarlyCDT Lung blood test has received such international publicity. The
benefits of offering patients the opportunity to identify lung cancer early
are clear - early detection of this disease saves lives. We are actively
engaged across the NHS to bring the blood test to clinicians and patients."

 

(1) https://www.itv.com/news/2020-08-08/new-blood-test-provides-breakthrough-in-lung-cancer-detection-rates

 

For further information:

 

Oncimmune Holdings plc

Adam Hill, Chief Executive Officer

Matthew Hall, Chief Financial Officer

contact@oncimmune.co.uk (mailto:contact@oncimmune.co.uk)

 

 

Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

Andrew Jones, Daniel Harris, Victoria Ayton

+44 (0)20 3829 5000

 

finnCap (Joint Broker)

Geoff Nash, Matthew Radley, Tim Redfern

+44 (0)20 7220 0500

 

Media enquiries:

FTI Consulting

Ben Atwell, Michael Trace, Alex Davis

Oncimmune@fticonsulting.com (mailto:Oncimmune@fticonsulting.com)

+44 (0)20 3727 1000

 

About Oncimmune

 

Our intimate understanding of the human immune system enables us to harness
its sophisticated response to disease to detect cancer earlier and to support
the development of better therapies.

 

The key to improving cancer survival is early detection and better selection
for therapy. As a company, we are driven by our passion to improve cancer
survival and give people extra time. Oncimmune's immunodiagnostic test,
EarlyCDT, can detect and help identify cancer on average four years earlier
than standard clinical diagnosis.

 

The unique combination of our core technology and understanding of the immune
system, powers our ImmunoINSIGHTS service; a proprietary platform that enables
life science organisations to optimise drug development and delivery, leading
to more effective, targeted as well as safer treatments for patients.

 

Oncimmune was founded in 2002 and launched its platform diagnostic technology
in 2009, followed by the launch of its first commercial tests, EarlyCDT Lung
and EarlyCDT Liver. To date, over 200,000 tests have been performed for
patients worldwide. EarlyCDT Lung was also used in what is believed to be the
largest randomised controlled trial for the early detection of lung cancer
using biomarkers, the successful National Health Service (NHS) Early detection
of Cancer of the Lung ("ECLS") trial of 12,208 high-risk smokers in Scotland.
This trial demonstrated that EarlyCDT Lung reduced the incidence of patients
with late-stage lung cancer or unclassified presentation at diagnosis,
compared to standard clinical practice.

 

Oncimmune, headquartered at its laboratory facility in Nottingham, UK, has a
discovery research centre in Dortmund, Germany and a partner representative
office in Shanghai, China. Oncimmune joined the Alternative Investment Market
(AIM) of the London Stock Exchange in May 2016 under the ticker ONC.L.

 

What is EarlyCDT Lung?

 

EarlyCDT is a simple blood test that detects the elevated presence of
autoantibodies generated by the body's immune system as a natural defence
against cancer cells.

 

EarlyCDT Lung is the world's most thoroughly validated blood test for the
detection of lung cancer and requires only a small volume of blood which can
be taken using a test in the home or community setting as well as a doctor's
surgery. Shown to detect lung cancer on average four years earlier compared to
current standard clinical diagnosis, EarlyCDT Lung can also provide an
effective assessment of cancer risk in indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs).

 

Details of the ECLS trial

 

The trial was open to adults aged 50-75 considered to be at high risk of lung
cancer because of smoking and family history, and healthy enough to undergo
potentially curative therapy. The intervention was the EarlyCDT Lung test,
followed by X-ray and computerised tomography (CT) scan in those with a
positive test result. The comparator was standard clinical practice in the UK.
The primary endpoint was the difference, at 24 months after randomisation,
between the rates of patients with stage III, IV or unclassified lung cancer
at diagnosis in the intervention arm and those in the control arm.

 

The trial was supported by the University of Dundee, NHS Tayside and
co-funded by Oncimmune, the Scottish Chief Scientist Office and the Scottish
Government. It was headed by Chief Investigators Professor Frank Sullivan,
Professor of Primary Care Medicine at the University of St. Andrews, and Dr
Stuart Schembri, until recently consultant Physician in Respiratory and
General Internal Medicine at NHS Tayside. It involved collaborators at the
University of Glasgow, with further work from the Universities of Aberdeen,
Nottingham and Toronto, NHS Scotland, the Scottish Government, The Canberra
Hospital and Oncimmune, who developed the EarlyCDT Lung blood test. Tayside
Clinical Trials Unit was responsible for trial delivery, data management and
analysis.

 

The abstract was presented by Chief Investigator for the trial, Professor
Sullivan in the Presidential Symposium of the World Conference for Lung Cancer
2019, the world's largest meeting dedicated to lung cancer and other thoracic
malignancies, hosting more than 7,000 delegates from more than 100 countries.

 

The peer review of the ECLS trial was published in The European Respiratory
Journal at
https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2020/07/09/13993003.00670-2020

 

In February 2020, Oncimmune launched a series of photographs for an exhibition
titled 'Extra Time. Portraits of hope and survival from early cancer
detection'. Behind the science of the ECLS study were human stories. 'Extra
Time' highlighted the stories of the medical professionals who worked
relentlessly to identify people who met the criteria for the study, invited
them to take part, undertook tests as well as monitoring their progress. But
most importantly, 'Extra Time' shone a light on the stories of the people
themselves who took part, as well as their families, friends and support
networks. These stories illustrate the unmet patient need for diagnosing lung
cancer in its early stages and is now available to view online
www.extratime.gallery.

 

 

For more information, visit www.oncimmune.com (http://www.oncimmune.com)

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