Biohit Oyj Stock exchange release 4th October 2012, at 13:50 EET
Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancer types and one of the top cancer types in Kazakhstan. Prognosis for the disease is very poor and the only efficient method of treatment is the early diagnosis and subsequent surgical removal of the tumor.
The main purpose of the collaboration between Biohit Oyj and the Medical Center of the President´s Affairs Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan is to diagnose the risk of gastric cancer as early as possible by screening. “The first step of the collaboration is the pilot phase where 900 patients are tested by using our GastroPanel examination in order to gain more information on risk groups for gastric cancer”, says Semi Korpela, CEO, Biohit Oyj . GastroPanel is an innovative and user friendly test from blood sample.
Contact details:
Semi Korpela, M. Sc. Econ., President & CEO
Biohit Oyj, tel.: +358 9 773 861, semi.korpela@biohit.fi
Biohit Oyj in brief
Biohit Oyj is a Finnish biotechnology company operating globally that was established in 1988. Biohit’s mission is “Innovating for Health” and “Cancer Prevention”. The purpose of the company is to take social responsibility and produce innovation, new technologies and analysis systems for use in medicine, research institutions and industry, helping to promote research and diagnostics and to improve the quality of life of people by means of preventing disease, human suffering and financial loss. It is also our duty to innovate and develop the marketing and availability of our products and services.
Additional Information on GastroPanel research
Biohit Oyj has developed the GastroPanel biomarker tests, a unique blood sample examination for the screening and diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection and damage or dysfunction of the mucous membrane (atrophic gastritis) of the stomach. Unlike the H. pylori examinations still being used (13C urea breath test and stool antigen test), the GastroPanel test reliably detects H. pylori infection, the typically asymptomatic condition atrophic gastritis, and associated risks including cancer.
The April 2012 Maastricht IV consensus report of the European Helicobacter Pylori Study Group recommends blood sample biomarker tests as a reliable method of diagnosis of diseases of the stomach mucosa and associated risk conditions. Researchers recommend biomarker tests for the diagnosis and follow-up of H. pylori infection and especially for atrophic gastritis that causes achlorhydric stomach, in addition to recommending the screening of asymptomatic patients.
The report emphasises the fact that H. pylori eradication therapy does not cure precancerous gastric conditions. This is why gastroscopy and biopsy examination are recommended at regular intervals of 2-3 years for patients with moderately severe or severe atrophic gastritis. Without gastroscopy and biopsy examination, atrophic gastritis in the entire stomach (precancerous condition) and its location can only be diagnosed with a GastroPanel biomarker test.
The international Healthy Stomach Initiative group’s 16 gastroenterology experts from 12 countries (Healthy Stomach Initiative ) came to the same conclusions. GastroPanel biomarker tests can be used to diagnose and screen atrophic gastritis and related risks in both asymptomatic patients and patients with abdominal discomfort (www.biohithealthcare.com: Investors/ Stock Exchange Releases: 17/02/2012 Biohit Oyj’s GastroPanel biomarker test recommended).
According to the taskforce, GastroPanel biomarker tests, unlike the H. pylori tests still in use, reliably diagnose the most significant risk conditions of the acid-free stomach (atrophic gastritis). With the help of the GastroPanel test, patients can be referred to appropriate further examinations, therapy and treatment. At the same time it is also possible to reliably diagnose patients who have a “healthy” stomach, i.e. patients who do not have H. pylori infection and/or atrophic gastritis (an acid-free stomach which is the highest known risk factor for stomach cancer and also risk factor for oesophageal cancer).
Acid-free stomach produces carcinogenic acetaldehyde
An IARC (WHO agency on cancer research) classification of October 2009 states that acetaldehyde in alcoholic beverages and naturally generated in alcohol is a group 1 carcinogen and is therefore as carcinogenic as H. pylori, asbestos, formaldehyde and benzene.
GastroPanel biomarker tests reliably detect an anacidic stomach which is the major risk factor of gastric cancer. In addition, the authors state that acetaldehyde generated in an anacidic stomach is a significant reason for gastric and oesophageal cancer risk associated with the condition.
Microbes from the mouth can colonise an acid-free stomach and produce carcinogenic acetaldehyde from sugar and alcohol. According to gene studies this is one of the major risk factors of gastric and oesophageal cancer. The risk can be reduced with the help of another Finnish innovation - prescription-free Acetium capsules, which are taken during food and alcohol consumption, to bind (neutralise) carcinogenic acetaldehyde in the stomach (www.gastropanel.net, http://www.acetium.com/test-your-acetaldehyde-exposure reveals the acetaldehyde exposure, www.biohithealthcare.com/Investors/stockexchange and press releases 20th July 2012: European Patent Awarded to Biohit Oyj’s Acetium) .
The state-of-the-art, safe and cost-effective GastroPanel examination does not involve any of the medical problems related with the tests described below:
•The 13C urea breath test (UBT), stool antigen test and antibody tests alone do not detect atrophic gastritis of the corpus caused by H. pylori infection or autoimmune disease, or atrophic gastritis of the antrum caused by H. pylori infection. Atrophic gastritis is almost always asymptomatic and usually incurable.
• Undiagnosed atrophic gastritis of the corpus (unacidic stomach) may cause gastric and oesophageal cancer and malabsorption of vitamin B12, iron, magnesium, calcium and certain drugs.
• Calcium deficiency causes osteoporosis. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause pernicious anaemia, dementia, depression and damage to the peripheral nervous system.
• The absorption of several drugs such as dipyridamole, some iron products and antifungals (fluconazole, itraconazole), thyroxine and atazanavir is considerably impaired in an achlorhydric stomach. Particularly in senior citizens, the risk of severe intestinal infections (such as giardiasis, malaria, Clostridium difficile and E. coli EHEC) increases.
• Atrophic gastritis in the gastric antrum increases the risk of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. If both the antrum and corpus mucosa are atrophic, this condition poses the highest risk for gastric cancer known to date. In some cases, gastric cancer is directly caused by H. pylori and gastritis. Less than 1% of the population has hereditary gastric cancer.
• Furthermore, none of the aforementioned three H. pylori tests provide any information on excessive gastric acid secretion, which in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease may cause complications from this disease. Such complications are often asymptomatic and include ulcerative oesophagitis and Barrett’s oesophagus, which may lead to oesophageal cancer if left untreated. If complications of the gastroesophageal reflux disease are suspected due to excessive acid secretion, or if the patient has atrophic gastritis or symptomatic H. pylori infection, gastroscopy is required to rule out cancer and other risks.
• In addition, the 13C urea breath test and stool antigen test may give up to 40% false negative results: in other words, the infection including cancer and other risks may be left undiagnosed if the patient has atrophic gastritis, MALT lymphoma or bleeding peptic ulcer disease, or if the patient is currently receiving antibiotics or PPI treatment.
In order to prevent medical malpractice, unnecessary costs and even unnecessary deaths caused by cancer, the current H. pylori tests should be replaced by the GastroPanel biomarker examination. With the GastroPanel tests readily available, treating patients suffering from stomach discomfort without further diagnosis can no longer be justified. Risky self-treatment of stomach discomforts may delay the diagnosis of, for example, precancerous gastric lesions until the disease has progressed beyond treatment.
Approximately one-third of the population in Finland suffer from stomach discomfort. Tens of thousands of patients from this group receive proton pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment or take prescription-free PPI medication, regardless of the fact that they already have an unacidic stomach caused by atrophic gastritis and the associated risks of cancer and other diseases.
Osteoporosis and vitamin B12 deficiency represent a major public health problem among the elderly, and may typically be caused by asymptomatic undiagnosed atrophic gastritis. A person with an autoimmune atrophic gastritis of the corpus may simultaneously suffer from an another autoimmune disease, such as thyroiditis, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes; or vice versa, a person with an autoimmune thyroid disease and type 1 diabetes often suffers from autoimmune asymptomatic atrophic gastritis and the resulting risk of gastric and oesophageal cancer as well as vitamin B12 deficiency. GastroPanel helps to detect at-risk patients in time and refer them to gastroscopy and treatment.
Literature on GastroPanel
1.Malfertheiner et al. Management of Helicobacter pylori infection. The Maastricht IV/ Florence Consensus Report. gut-bmj.com on May 18, 2012. European Helicobacter Pylori Study Group, ESPSG
2.Agreus et al. Rationale in diagnosis and screening of atrophic gastritis with stomach-specific plasma biomarkers, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 2012; 47: 136 – 147)
3.WHO. http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2009/pdfs/pr196_E.pdf 2011