Prostatype Genomics has in collaboration with Akademiska University Hospital during 2023 initiated a comprehensive study in patients with localized prostate cancer over the course of 25 years. The study has been submitted to the prestigious and largest urology conference in Europe, the 39th Annual EAU (European Association of Urology) Congress. The congress received 5651 abstracts of various kinds, the highest number in many years. We can proudly announce that the new study from Akademiska University Hospital has been selected to present at the EAU Congress in Paris in May, 2024.

The interim results, after having analyzed approximately 100 patients out of a total cohort of approximately 500 patients, indicates that the usage of Prostatype® can aid clinicians and patients to make decisions on surveillance versus treatment, rather than having to rely on clinical indicators alone.  

The results reveals that the test provides an accurate assessment of the risk of long-term prostate cancer-specific mortality, or PCSM, for patients with localized prostate cancer. These 25-year findings suggest that Prostatype® can be used as an indicator of long-term risk of prostate cancer-specific mortality.

In the study, researchers at the Akademiska University Hospital analyzes the association between the Prostatype®-result and long-term oncological outcomes following radical prostatectomy in a stratified cohort sample of 500 patients who were treated between 1991 and 2001. The study is expected to be fully completed during the final quarter of 2024.

Associate professor Michael Häggman, urologist involved in the study, specifically highlight one finding from the study that he believes will have the most immediate clinical impact for prostate cancer patients: “It is striking how accurate Prostatype® seems to predict if the patient will survive or die from his prostate cancer. It is also of high interest from a clinical point of view that Prostatype® not only provides information of when radical treatments aren’t needed, but also indicates what patients should be treated radically.”

The study furthermore indicates that Prostatype® can predict which patients will relapse after having gone through a radical prostatectomy (where the prostate is surgically removed from the patient). "That kind of information is very important and valuable to know from the start. These patients could potentially be put on a more aggressive treatment strategy from the start”, says Michael Häggman.

“Prostatype provides independent information that isn't evident to a pathologist who evaluates the biopsy through a microscope. Histology in prostate cancer is useful to a degree. For most of the men, the Gleason score is more ambiguous, and knowing the biology of the tumor is necessary to treat the patient accurately. It's especially helpful to have such mature data, to show the real meaning in terms of what happens to the patient in the long term. The results this far are really encouraging, and we are looking forward to gather additional data as the study progresses, says Michael Häggman.”

Fredrik Persson, CEO of Prostatype Genomics, comments: “The interim data from the study again reinforces the strong performance of Prostatype as a biomarker that adds valuable and accurate information to the physicians as well as to the patients. We are happy that the study has caught the interest from the scientific community at the EAU, and it will be a great pleasure making the information valid to many more physicians gathered at a venue of great importance during the spring. What is even more exciting is that we now have indications that Prostatype® delivers even more useful information for broadened usage of the product. Information of the risk of relapse after a radical treatment is of great value to the clinicians which in turn will open even more doors for the usage of Prostatype®, especially in the more mature US-market”, says Fredrik Persson.

The company is anticipating that the study will be published in a scientific journal later next year which will help to expand the fields of usage of Prostatype® and its recommendation by the American NCCN and the European EAU guidelines for men who've been diagnosed with very low-, low-, or intermediate-risk disease, to determine whether their disease can be conservatively managed through active surveillance rather than treated with definitive surgery or radiation therapy.