RICHMOND, British Columbia, July 29, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioCurex Inc. (OTCBB:BOCX) today announced that the International Society of Oncology and Biomarkers Congress Scientific Committee has accepted BioCurex's presentation on the RECAF blood test potential to monitor cancer recurrence and treatment. The meeting will be held Sept. 3-8, 2010 in Munich, Germany and is broadly attended by scientists, physicians and biotechnology companies involved in cancer diagnostics.
In addition, Dr. Ricardo Moro, the Chief Executive Officer of BioCurex, has been invited to co-chair a panel discussion on biomarker statistics and make a presentation on the statistical challenges in developing new cancer markers.
"We have previously shown that the RECAF cancer test can be used in a variety of ways including screening and diagnostics," stated Dr. Moro. "In this presentation, our results indicate that the RECAF test could also be used for predicting outcome or monitoring treatment for cancer recurrence. We show that this test has a high sensitivity and specificity in early stages of at least two of the most common types of cancers, prostate and breast, as well as the less frequent ovarian cancer. This strongly suggests that a RECAF positive test might precede the clinical expression of a recurrence and therefore allow the oncologist to detect recurrence and treat patients earlier."
The European Group on Tumor Markers Recommendations (2005) state that markers for breast cancer should be determined every 2–4 months (according to the risk of recurrence) during the initial 5 years after diagnosis, then every 6 months during the next 3 years and at yearly intervals thereafter(1). That represents 15-30 tests per cancer patient during the first 5 years following diagnosis and 2 additional tests per year thereafter. This highlights the importance of an inexpensive, reliable cancer marker test and monitoring tool which BioCurex believes could be fulfilled by its RECAF blood test.
Dr. Moro added, "I am also flattered by the congress organizers' invitation to co-chair a panel of the statistical process of discovering and validating new cancer markers. The concepts I will present have been used at BioCurex in our research and development program relating to our RECAF cancer tests."
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About BioCurex, Inc.
BioCurex, Inc. is a biotechnology company that is developing products based on patented and proprietary technology in the area of cancer diagnostics. The technology identifies a universal cancer marker known as RECAF.
RECAF is a molecule that is present on cancer cells but not detected in significant levels on healthy cells or benign tumor cells. It is the receptor for alpha-fetoprotein and is classified as an oncofetal antigen due to its presence on both fetal and malignant tissues. This characteristic makes RECAF a more accurate indicator of cancer than most current tumor markers.
BioCurex is commercializing its technology through licensing arrangements with companies that develop and market diagnostic tests for the large automated clinical laboratory setting, through development and marketing of non-automated clinical laboratory tests, through development of rapid, point-of-care test formats, and through marketing of its OncoPet RECAF test for cancer in companion animals.
BioCurex has signed licensing agreements for its cancer detection blood tests with Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and with Inverness Medical Innovations (NYSE:ALR).
For further information on these agreements visit: http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1092562/000100487808000117/sb2amnd4s1april08.txt.
For more information about the Company, please visit www.BioCurex.com.
For more information about OncoPet Diagnostics Inc., please visit:
www.OncoPetDiagnostics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
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