October 14, 2008

TRANS GENIC INC.

   

Patent Application for Antibody against Pancreatic Cancer Marker and its Diagnostic Application


We hereby announce that TRANS GENIC INC. (headquartered at Kumamoto, Japan, CEO: Masahiro Koreishi, hereinafter referred to as "we") and National Cancer Center (Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan, President: Dr. Setsuo Hirohashi) filed on October 14, 2008 a patent application for an antibody against pancreatic cancer marker and its diagnostic application.

We have been proceeding with researches to develop new diagnostic methods to detect various diseases using antibodies. As a part of these efforts, we have conducted joint research with National Cancer Center since December 2007 in order to work toward practical use of early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

In the joint research, we used our unique GANP® mouse technology to produce an antibody against new tumor marker, which would be useful for diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (hereinafter referred to as “the marker”). The marker had been discovered by Dr. Masaya Ono and Dr. Tesshi Yamada, Chemotherapy Division of National Cancer Center Research Institute. We then successfully developed an assay system to detect the marker. Due to this remarkable achievement, it becomes possible to measure the level of the marker in plasma more easily and accurately.
Since we have achieved desired outcome, we decided to apply for joint patent with National Cancer Center in order to protect its intellectual properties with a view to further development and commercialization of the assay system.

We will continuously proceed with joint research with National Cancer Center to achieve the practical use of the assay system for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and promote its licensing business to diagnostic reagents manufacturers.

The effects of the patent application on our business performance are as yet unknown, but we will make an announcement as soon as it is revealed to have a significant impact on our future performance.
 

 
 

Reference:
Pancreatic Cancer in Japan

According to "Cancer Statistics in Japan - 2007" published by Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research, the number of death due to cancer in Japan exceeds 320,000 every year. Pancreatic cancer accounts for 7% (22,000 deaths) to the total and ranks 5th as a cause of death from cancer, following lung, stomach, colon and liver cancers. It is extremely difficult to detect early pancreatic cancer since it has almost no symptoms, but it rapidly progresses and metastasizes to other organs even at an early stage. For these reasons, it is said to be very important to detect it early enough to be treated in order to overcome the disease.
 

Diagnostic Method for Pancreatic Cancer

Although various imaging tests including ultrasonography and CT scan have been widely used to detect pancreatic cancer for these days, a simpler and more accurate diagnostic method is still in demand.
Measuring blood tumor marker level (e.g., CA125, CA19-9, CEA) is commonly used as a simple method for detecting pancreatic cancer, but it often shows false-positive results. Therefore, an assay system to detect pancreatic cancer-specific markers has been in high demand.
 
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