Health Discovery Corporation ("HDC") (OTCBB: HDVY) announced today
that it has filed new patent applications in the United States Patent
and Trademark Office and in the U.S. Receiving Office for the Patent
Cooperation Treaty for U.S. and foreign patent protection for a newly
discovered Prostate Cancer Biomarker Expression Signature which is
highly accurate for identifying prostate cancer. This new Prostate
Cancer Biomarker Expression Signature was demonstrated to have a very
high degree of accuracy as demonstrated by an area under the ROC curve
of 94%.
"This new and exciting biomarker discovery could play a
significant role in a more accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer as
well as providing important information for the development of new
drug targets for the successful treatment of prostate cancer,"
commented Dr. Herbert A. Fritsche, Professor of Laboratory Medicine at
the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Chairman of
HDC's Science Team. "As medicine becomes increasingly personalized,
discoveries of this nature could facilitate the development of new
diagnostic tests and innovative treatments for prostate cancer."
Stephen D. Barnhill, M.D., Chairman & CEO of HDC, said, "I firmly
believe that this new Prostate Cancer Biomarker Discovery provides a
significant opportunity towards providing a more accurate diagnosis of
prostate cancer and important new information for identifying new
therapeutic targets in treating this potentially devastating type of
cancer. This is especially important since The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that prostate cancer in men is expected
to go up 40% worldwide in the next 25 years. HDC is eager to work with
both diagnostic and pharmaceutical partners on developing prospective
commercial applications for this important new discovery."
In addition, HDC has previously identified and reported additional
Expression Signatures of biomarkers that are capable of distinguishing
high-grade prostate cancers (Gleason Grade 4 and higher) from less
malignant grades. More than 1 million men a year undergo biopsies of
the prostate gland after the widely used cancer-screening test reveals
moderately elevated levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the
blood. Only one in four of these biopsies find evidence of cancer,
meaning that around 750,000 of those million plus biopsies were
unnecessary. The ability to clearly distinguish between different
cancer grades by accurately identifying biomarker expression
signatures in tissue, blood, urine or semen, could reduce the number
of unneeded biopsies while quickly identifying those men in urgent
need of more aggressive treatment.
According to a recent paper published in the Journal of Urology by
Dr. Tom Stamey at Stanford University Medical Center, a world-renowned
expert on prostate cancer, and a Member of the HDC Science Team "The
Era of PSA is over" because of the low accuracy rate of Prostate
Specific Antigen in identifying clinically significant prostate
cancer. Dr. Stamey believes that a new more accurate test is needed to
effectively detect this type of cancer. PSA sales are estimated at
over $350 million annually and represent 40% of all annual cancer
serum biomarker revenues.
HDC has recently signed licensing agreements with Pfizer (NYSE:
PFE), Epigenomics (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: ECX) and Bruker
Daltonics (NASDAQ: BRKR).
Savannah-based Health Discovery Corporation (OTCBB: HDVY) is
uniquely positioned in the field of pattern recognition. Through its
broad patent portfolio and the efforts of its recognized scientific
team, HDC is focused on commercializing its intellectual property in
genomic and proteomic biomarker discovery, medical imaging,
diagnostics, and pharmaceutical advancements in personalized medicine.
The company's patent-protected technology also has significant
application in non-medical fields that require manipulation and
analysis of large, complex datasets such as insurance, financial
markets, Internet search & spam, and homeland security.
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Acts of 1933 and Section 21E
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although the Company believes
that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are
reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove
correct.
