21 April 2015

EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc

("EKF", the "Company")

Data for PointMan™ Technology presented at AACR

Data presented showing PointMan™ to be an easy to use and useful method for non-invasively determining plasma EGFR T790M mutation status in late stage lung cancer patients

EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc (AIM: EKF), the AIM listed point-of-care, central laboratory and molecular diagnostics business, announces that data on its PointMan™ DNA enrichment technology has been presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015, in Philadelphia, USA.  

In a scientific poster entitled, 'Non-invasive analysis for T790M mutations of EGFR using a selective amplification method', researchers from the Kanazawa University Hospital (Kanazawa, Japan) presented a study aiming to develop a blood-based, non-invasive approach to detect the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) T790M mutation in lung cancer. EGFR T790M is a mutation that is typically present when patients become less sensitive to drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors. This is relevant to TKI drugs such as  Erlotinib and Gefitinib which are widely used in the treatment of non-small cell lung carcinoma. Generally, T790M positive patients have a much lower overall survival rate. The researchers concluded that EKF's PointMan™ technology was an easy and useful method for non-invasively determining plasma EGFR T790M mutation status and therefore identifying a potential change in treatment path in late stage lung cancer patients.

Commenting on the presentation, Julian Baines, CEO of EKF Diagnostics said: "AACR is one of the most prestigious annual oncology conferences with well over 18,500 attendees. To have a scientific poster accepted for presentation at such an event shows that traction is developing for the PointMan™ DNA enrichment system which is a platform technology for a whole series of products identifying specific DNA mutations.   The comment from the researchers that PointMan™ represents a novel method for selective amplification of genotype specific sequences which is both useful and easy to use is very encouraging."

Reference:

1.            Nishikawa, S. et al. Non-invasive analysis for T790M mutations of EGFR using a selective amplification method. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015.

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About EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc - www.ekfdiagnostics.com

EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc was formed in July 2010 following the acquisition of EKF-diagnostic GmbH for €14.32m and refocused its strategy to one of building a substantial point of care diagnostics business. As part of this strategy, the Group has integrated three further acquisitions, Quotient Diagnostics Limited (acquired in September 2010), Argutus Medical Limited (acquired in December 2010) and Stanbio Laboratory L.P. (acquired in June 2011). In 2013 EKF established a new subsidiary, EKF Molecular Diagnostics Ltd, to focus on molecular and companion diagnostics and acquired 360 Genomics Ltd, a business that owns diagnostics technologies for cancer gene detection.

The Company, with its head office in Cardiff and operations in London, Germany, Poland, Russia, Ireland and the US, is a leading diagnostics business, focussing on the development, production and distribution of chemical reagents and analysers for the testing of Glucose, Lactate, Haemoglobin, Haematocrit and HbA1c.

In March 2011 EKF entered into a distribution agreement with Alere Inc ("Alere"), a global diagnostics company, under which Alere was appointed the exclusive distributor of EKF's CLIA waived Hemo Control device and cuvettes in the US, Canada and United Kingdom. The device is distributed in the US under the name HemoPoint H2. 

In March 2014, EKF acquired Separation Technology, Inc., a Florida based manufacturer of in vitro diagnostics devices for the haematology testing market. In April 2014, EKF completed the acquisitions of Selah Genomics Inc., a US based developer of molecular diagnostics for personalised medicine and DiaSpect Medical AB., a Swedish based manufacturer of point-of-care haemoglobin analysers.