LOL! When NMPS announces a historic press release in the forest, does anyone hear it? This board is pretty darn quiet. There is a bit more activity on the Raging Bull Boards, you can check out a few interesting posts there .. Otherwise, here is today's major news release ... biff
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Matritech's Nuclear Matrix Proteins Detected in Blood of Women With EarlyStage Breast Cancer
Development of Blood Based Screening Test
for Breast Cancer Proceeding on Schedule
NEWTON, Mass., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Matritech, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMPS), a company specializing in products designed to detect, manage and screen for cancer, announced today that its scientists had detected the presence of nuclear matrix proteins (NMP) in the blood of women even at the earliest stages of breast cancer, but absent in the blood of normal women as well as those with fibroadenoma, a benign breast disease. Using its proprietary specimen preparation and mass spectrometry procedures to test the blood from each woman, the scientific team led by Brynmor Watkins, Ph.D., confirmed the presence of NMPs in the blood from women with breast cancer, at all stages of the disease. The scientists have selected one of the NMPs, NMP66, for further development and clinical trials of a test kit for use by oncologists in the routine detection and monitoring of women with, or at risk for, breast cancer. The company has now tested more than 50 blood specimens and found NMP66 to be specific to breast cancer, without exception.
This NMP66 is protected by claims contained in three patents issued to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and licensed exclusively to Matritech. The Company recently filed three additional patents claiming the use of this, and other NMPs, in the management of women with breast cancer.
Matritech scientists determined the identity and partial amino sequence of NMP66. It is a member of a class of NMPs, which regulate the splicing of pre- mRNA, a critical event in the development of all eukaryotic cells, including those that go on to become malignant.
"We are extremely pleased to announce that our development plans for an early-detection blood test for breast cancer are on schedule," said David L. Corbet, President and Chief Operating Officer of Matritech. "We continue to believe that nuclear matrix proteins (NMPs), our platform technology, are the only proteins clinically proven to be cancer-specific. Therefore, we are gratified that our breast cancer-specific protein discovery has been verified as an NMP in the lab. This confirmation of our NMP technology strengthens our previous patent position. However, the Company has filed three additional patent applications covering the breast cancer-specific protein and its discovery method.
"When breast cancer is discovered at its earliest stage, the five-year survival rate is 97 percent. Therefore, a blood test that would help physicians facilitate early detection of the disease would be extremely valuable," Corbet added. "Further testing and development of this breast cancer blood test is therefore a high priority for Matritech going forward."
"These preliminary results are very encouraging," said Roy Beveridge, M.D., a medical oncologist at Fairfax Hospital (Fairfax, Va.) who has published extensively on the subject of breast-tumor markers. Dr. Beveridge has provided some of the breast cancer specimens for the Matritech study.
"If a test were to detect early-stage breast cancer, it could be used as a screen and would be used widely throughout the world," added Dr. Beveridge.
Detection of these breast cancer markers in blood was accomplished using a novel approach for cancer marker detection, mass spectrometry, a technique which the Company believes is immediately applicable to other cancer tests it is developing. Mass spectrometry techniques for measuring the elevation of specific proteins in blood is expected to improve the accuracy of the tests in development by Matritech as well as expedite the introduction of second generation, blood-based cancer diagnostic tests to clinical laboratories worldwide. The clinical formats of Matritech's tests will include industry standard antibody-based immunoassays compatible with existing clinical laboratory instrumentation.
Matritech's lead product, the NMP22(R) Test Kit, was cleared in 1996 by the U.S. FDA for monitoring patients who have previously been treated for bladder cancer, and has been recently cleared for screening individuals at risk for bladder cancer. NMP22 is also approved for detection and management of bladder cancer in China and in Japan, and is in use in Europe. NMP22 has been reported by clinical investigators, such as those from Massachusetts General Hospital and Kaiser Permanente, to be the most accurate urine-based bladder cancer test on the market. In addition to the NMP22 Test Kit, the Company has developed the NMP179(TM) cervical cancer test, the NuMA(TM) Colon Cancer Test Kit, and has a prostate cancer product under development.
Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
Any forward looking statements related to the Company's expectations regarding the performance, timing or extent of market acceptance, and regulatory approvals of the Company's breast cancer test are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control. These include, but are not limited to, risks related to the Company's limited capital resources, unforeseen delays in product development or denials of FDA and other regulatory approvals, future product demand and pricing, competitive products and technical developments and general business and economic conditions. There can be no assurances that the Company's expectations for its products will be achieved.
SOURCE Matritech, Inc.
CO: Matritech, Inc.
ST: Massachusetts
IN: MTC BIO
SU:
03/02/2000 08:14 EST prnewswire.com
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