LUND, SWEDEN - Immunovia AB today announced that two additional sites, Umeå University Hospital in Sweden and Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO Hospitalet) - Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona, are now part of PanFAM-1, the largest ever prospective study looking at early diagnosis in high-risk individuals with Familial Pancreatic Cancer (FPC). Designed to validate Immunovia ́s innovative blood test, IMMray™ PanCan-d, the study will analyze more than two thousand individuals over three years across sites in both the US and Europe offering FPC screening programs. The aim is to improve the outcome for the cancer patients and to prove the overall healthcare benefits of testing persons with heredity risk of pancreatic cancer. 

The PI's of the study are Prof. Malin Sund, Professor, Department of Surgery, Umeå University Hospital and Dr. Alexandre Teulé Vega, ICO Hospitalet - IDIBELL.

According to Rolf Ehrnström, CSO Immunovia, PI for the entire study, the new participants are significant for two reasons: "The participation of our colleagues from Umeå gives us almost complete coverage of Sweden, while Barcelona further increases the ethnic and racial diversity of samples and thus strengthens the position of PanFAM-1 as the broadest multicenter study currently in the world for the hereditary risk group. We know members of families with heredity for pancreatic cancer have an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer, but so far we lack accurate, non-invasive early diagnostic tools."

"Following on from the additional US sites we announced at the end of last year, we are now getting close to finalising our PanFAM-1 site inclusions during spring of 2019," commented Mats Grahn, CEO, Immunovia. "We are delighted with the enthusiasm for the trial from all the sites across US and the Europe which will expediate recruitment, expand our large key opinion leader network and help us in our mission to demonstrate early detection of pancreatic cancer with IMMray™ PanCan-d in high risk individuals. "

The other PanFAM-1 partners to date are: Mount Sinai, New York (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=222); Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR; (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=216) The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Pittsburgh, PA (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=292); The Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=294); NYU School of Medicine, New York (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=3371); Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), Montreal Canada; The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania; University of Massachusetts; Yale University MA;  (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=4251)The University of Liverpool, UK (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=221); Ramon y Cajal Institute for Health Research Madrid, Spain (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=252); University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=297) Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Spain, (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=3472) Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=3685), Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden  (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=291)and Linköping University Hospital, Sweden (https://immunovia.com/investors/press-releases/?id=3570). 

For more information, please contact:

Mats Grahn

Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Immunovia

Tel.: +46-70-5320230

Email: mats.grahn@immunovia.com

About Immunovia
Immunovia AB was founded in 2007 by investigators from the Department of Immunotechnology at Lund University and CREATE Health, the Center for Translational Cancer Research in Lund, Sweden. Immunovia's strategy is to decipher the wealth of information in blood and translate it into clinically useful tools to diagnose complex diseases such as cancer, earlier and more accurately than previously possible. Immunovia's core technology platform, IMMray™, is based on antibody biomarker microarray analysis. The company is now performing clinical validation studies for the commercialization of IMMray™ PanCan-d that could be the first blood based test for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In the beginning of 2016, the company started a program focused on autoimmune diseases diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring. (Source: www.immunovia.com)

Immunovia's shares (IMMNOV) are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.immunovia.com.

About Pancreatic Cancer  

Pancreatic Cancer is one of the most deadly and difficult to detect cancers, as the signs and symptoms are diffuse and similar to other diseases. There are more than 40,000 deaths and over 50,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the U.S. alone, and the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is currently 5-8 %. It is predicted to become the second leading cause of cancer death by 2020. However, because resection is more successful in stage I/II, early diagnosis can significantly improve pancreatic cancer patients' 5-year survival rates from 5-8 % to up to 49%.

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