Posted: 26 September 2023
Rhythm Biosciences Ltd (ASX: RHY) (“Rhythm” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update on its cancer diagnostics technology platform expansion program in breast cancer. As previously announced (ASX: RHY – 19 June 2023), together with Agilex Biolabs, Rhythm has identified 4 biomarkers that exhibit a strong correlation with specific breast cancer subtypes.
The preliminary assessment of the potential biomarkers was performed by Agilex in a “research use only” immunoassay study to evaluate these blood-based biomarkers from 100 breast cancer patients and 100 healthy volunteers. This early-stage R&D has identified important biomarker combinations that can distinguish between patients with breast cancer and healthy controls, with a 83% sensitivity and a 90% specificity (P ≤0.0003).
These encouraging results warrant confirmation in a larger sample set and justify the continuation and advancement of the project.
Verification of these results would support the case for investment in a new R&D program to develop, validate, clinically evaluate the performance of the biomarkers, and translate these results into a commercially scalable, proprietary blood test for the early detection of breast cancer.
Globally, breast cancer has become the most diagnosed cancer, with 2.3 million women affected by the disease each year.1 Over the 5 years from 2016 – 2020, there were 7.8 million women that were diagnosed with breast cancer, making it the world’s most prevalent cancer.2
In 2019 – 2020, 3.5 million women were invited to participate into the BreastScreen Australia Program. 1.8 million (~50%) women participated in the program.3
There is a clear need to improve the participation rate and the potential to save lives with an alternative to current screening practices. Not unlike, ColoSTAT®, which is aimed at providing a simple blood test for the early detection of colorectal cancer, the team at Rhythm will look to advance this project to provide a simple blood test for the early detection of breast cancer.
