Biohit Oyj Press Release November 9, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. local time (EET)
Russian Federation starts a pilot project for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, targeted to 48-75-year-old asymptomatic persons. The pilot program will start during November 2015 in Saint Petersburg, with around 20.000 persons to be screened. A screening test will be selected for the project, based on the results from the pilot phase, Biohit Oyj’s ColonView test is one of the options. After this, the project will last six years and will include all 18 districts of Saint Petersburg. The screening program is organized and sponsored by the Russian Federal Government and it will be performed in local medical clinics.
ColonView lateral flow quick test is intended for fast and accurate detection of fecal occult blood (FOB) in stool samples. The test is based on highly sensitive immunochemical detection of hemoglobin and hemoglobin/haptoglobin complex, of which basis was invented already in the beginning of the 1980s in Finland (1,2). The principal use of the Biohit ColonView Hb and Hb/Hp test is to screen for lower gastrointestinal (GI) pathologies, including CRC and its precursors (bleeding adenomas) (3).
ColonView is superior to the conventional tests in CRC screening due to its significantly higher sensitivity and specificity. ColonView quick test detects both hemoglobin (Hb) and hemoglobin-haptoglobin (Hb/Hp) complex.
CRC develops over years through well-known precursors which can be detected and removed, thus preventing the development of invasive cancer. CRC is one of the few human malignant tumors, which is suitable for population-based screening.
CEO Semi Korpela, Biohit Oyj: ‘Colorectal cancer is one of the most preventable cancers. ColonView test is most effective in screening of asymptomatic people. The development of cancer is preventable by finding and treating the precursors (polyps, adenomas), whereas early detection aims to find cancers at an early stage that are curable by effective treatment. This is an important breakthrough in Russia, and in many other countries as well, because with Biohit Oyj’s ColonView test, a substantial amount of limited health care resources and costs could be saved.’
More information at www.colonview.com
Additional information:
CEO Semi Korpela, Biohit Oyj
tel. +358 9 773 861
investor.relations@biohit.fi
www.biohithealthcare.com
1. www.google.com/patents/US4427769
2. http://www.biohithealthcare.com/About Us/History : Aggressive innovation and patenting strategy
3. Link to the article, Anticancer Research: http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/35/5/2873.full
Biohit in brief
Biohit Oyj is a globally operating Finnish biotechnology company. Biohit’s mission is “Innovating for Health” – we produce innovative products and services to promote research and early diagnosis. Biohit is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, and has subsidiaries in Italy and the UK. Biohit's Series B share (BIOBV) is quoted on Nasdaq Helsinki in the Small cap/Healthcare group. www.biohithealthcare.com