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HealthLinx’ OvPlex™ ovarian cancer diagnostic awarded BioSpectrum Asia Product of the Year
5 February 2010, Melbourne: Medical diagnostics company HealthLinx Limited (ASX:HTX) has been awarded the BioSpectrum Asia Product of the Year award 2010 for its ovarian cancer diagnostic OvPlex™. The award was judged by an independent jury of international life sciences experts compiled by BioSpectrum Asia, one of the largest industry magazines in the Asian Pacific region.
The jury judged OvPlex™, along with the Shancol cholera vaccine, as joint winners of the award for 2010. The jury of six included life sciences veteran and leading industry analyst and financier Dr G Steven Burrill of Burrill and Co, Industrial Technology Research Institute vice-president Dr Chungcheng Liu and BioSpectrum Asia chief editor Mr Abraham E Mathew.
The award, which does not invite nominations, is chosen from a shortlist prepared by BioSpectrum Asia and then judged by the jury under strict parameters of:
– Uniqueness
– Degree of difficulty in creating the product
– Revenue realisations from the product
– Import substitution
– Export potential
– Price competitiveness
OvPlex™ uses a simple blood test and provides a superior performing alternative to the use of CA125 alone to aid in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer with a proven diagnostic efficiency of 92 per cent.
“OvPlex™ has the potential to save many hundreds of women with earlier diagnosis in the coming years based on our study data,” said Mr Nick Gatsios, managing director of HealthLinx. “For a small company with a committed development team it is a boost for all of us to be greeted with this peer group recognition.”
“The importance of this award is in part being recognised by this esteemed judging panel that includes one of the most respected industry leaders Dr G Steven Burrill of Burrill and Co. Dr. Burrill has been an advocate of new diagnostic technologies for the past 5 years. These judges would see many hundreds of life sciences innovations every year and are judging innovations in large part on commercial potential. It is interesting to note that we were not aware of the product being submitted for this award and I was extremely excited when I received notification from BioSpectrum.”
The OvPlex™ diagnostic is currently available only in Australia but a UK and Ireland launch will occur later this month, with the Singapore and India markets also likely to have access to the diagnostic by the end of the year.
Development is continuing on OvPlex™ to further improve its accuracy with a second larger clinical study. The study will use existing biomarkers with two new biomarkers in HTX005 and HTX010. With testing on up to 1150 samples with trial sites in Australia, Asia and the UK, the aim is to improve diagnostic efficiency of OvPlex™ to over 97 per cent.
The jury members who judged the BioSpectrum Asia Product of the Year 2010 were:
– Dr G Steven Burrill, Chairman, Burrill & Co, San Francisco, USA
– Dr Chungcheng Liu, VP, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and General Director, Biomedical Engineering Group, Hsinchu, Taiwan
– Dr Jung-Jin Seo, Chairman, Celltrion, Korea and the BioSpectrum Asia-Pacific Entrepreneur Award recipient of 2009
– Dr Deborah Rathjen, CEO and MD, Bionomics Ltd, Australia
– Prof B Suresh, President, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, Mumbai, and Vice-Chancellor, JSS University, Mysore, India
– Mr Abraham E Mathew, Chief Editor, BioSpectrum Asia, Bangalore, India
HealthLinx will be officially presented with the award at the BioSpectrum Asia awards function in Singapore in March.
Enquiries
Nick Gatsios (HealthLinx Limited) +61 3 9208 4200
Rudi Michelson (Monsoon Communications) +61 3 9620 3333
About HealthLinx Limited (ASX:HTX)
HealthLinx uses biomarkers to develop best practice diagnostics that detect and monitor diseases. First commercial targets are for diseases with high fatality:
Ovarian cancer diagnostic (OvPlex) targeting US$270m pa market
Prostate cancer targeting US$350m pa market
A biomarker is a specific biochemical in the body that measures disease or the effects of treatment.
Commercial sales of the OvPlex test have begun in Australia and are soon to commence in the UK. HealthLinx is developing new and increasingly accurate next generation diagnostics and will seek license partners to roll out worldwide sales.
www.healthlinx.com.au
Monsoon Communications
Level 1 350 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: 03 9620 3333
www.monsoon.com.au
