London -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 14, 2007 --
Curidium Medica plc ("Curidium" or the "Company")
CURIDIUM DEVELOPS BLOOD DIAGNOSTIC TEST FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA/BIPOLAR DISORDER
PATIENT SUBGROUPS
- Major Advance towards More Effective and Safer Drug Treatments -
London, UK, 14 May 2007, Curidium Medica Plc, (LSE: CUR), the personalized
medicine company focused on bringing the right drug to the right patient, today
announced it has developed a blood diagnostic test that can sub-classify
patients with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder into one of four subgroups. This
is the first time that a schizophrenia/bipolar disorder diagnostic blood test
has been developed that classifies patients into different subgroups that are
each associated with distinct underlying disease mechanisms and specific drug
targets. The discovery, using Curidium's proprietary technology Homomatrix®,
of highly statistically significantly different schizophrenic/bipolar disease
patient subgroups was announced previously by the Company.
Curidium's diagnostic test is based on the levels of expression of 28 genes in
blood samples of schizophrenia/bipolar disorder patients. The test was designed
using the Homomatrix® technology and gene expression data was applied from
blood samples of 115 patient and control donors. The test was subsequently
assessed using blood samples from a different group of 32 schizophrenia/bipolar
disorder patients in order to determine the test's specificity and sensitivity.
The overall specificity or ability of the test to avoid incorrectly selecting a
patient for a subgroup was ninety-four percent (94%). The overall sensitivity,
which determines the ability of the test to detect the subjects belonging to a
subgroup, was seventy-eight percent (78%).
The Company believes its diagnostic test could potentially lead to the more
accurate prescription of marketed products as well as enable the identification
and development of better and/or new subgroup specific drug treatments. The
test will potentially benefit 1) patients, providing safer and more effective
treatments, 2) the pharmaceutical industry, allowing more time and cost
effective development of new drugs and 3) healthcare payers, such that the
prescription of ineffective treatments may be avoided. Generally, only a
minority of schizophrenia/bipolar disorder patients respond to a drug treatment.
"The development of a blood test improving the accuracy of diagnosis and
potential treatment of schizophrenia/bipolar disorder patients represents a
significant advance in the treatment of these diseases," stated Dr. Anne
Bruinvels, CEO of Curidium Medica plc. "This particular test and the
application of Homomatrix to psychiatric and other disorders has the potential
to support the development of much needed, effective and safe drugs for
difficult-to-treat patients."
For further information please contact:
Anne Bruinvels +44 (0) 20 7554 8790
CEO, Curidium Medica plc
Rob Smith +44 (0) 20 7554 8793
Finance Director, Curidium Medica plc
Rhodri Cruwys / Romil Patel +44 (0) 20 7448 4400
Blue Oar Securities Plc
Billy Clegg / Edward Westropp / Anna Keeble + 44 (0)20 7831 3113
Financial Dynamics
Notes to Editors
Homomatrix®
Homomatrix® is a fully automated analysis tool that uses proprietary pattern
recognition tools and sequences of mathematical algorithms together with
state-of-the-art statistical methods to objectively analyze large sets of gene
expression and biological data from heterogeneous populations. These analyses
can potentially lead to the development of diagnostics that identify
treatment-responsive patients and/or patient subgroups, signalling pathways as
well as drug targets. It is anticipated that Homomatrix® could be of
significant value in the drug development arena where the "most likely to
respond" patients could be pre-selected to clinical trials.
Schizophrenia/Bipolar Disorder
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized in the active phase by
hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thoughts/speech, disorganized or
catatonic behavior, and apathy. It is estimated that 1% of the general
population suffer from schizophrenia.
Bipolar affective disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a mental
illness involving episodes of serious mania and depression. The person's mood
usually swings from overly "high" and irritable to sad and hopeless, and then
back again, with periods of normal mood in between. It is estimated that 0.5% of
the general population suffer from bipolar affective disorder.
The global market for antipsychotics, which are used to treat schizophrenia and
frequently bipolar affective disorder was valued at $12.5 billion in 2004 and is
expected to grow to $20.5 billion by 2009 (The CNS Market Outlook to 2010,
Reuters Business Insights, 2005).
Further information about schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder can be
found at
www.schizophrenia.com or
www.moodswing.org.
Curidium Medica
Curidium), the personalized medicine company focused on bringing the right drug
to the right patient, is focused on identifying targeted medicines to treat
patients more effectively. Through the application of its proprietary
technology, Homomatrix®, Curidium analyses biological data (gene expression/
protein data) from patients suffering from complex or multi-factorial diseases.
Patient populations with complex disorders are known to be heterogeneous and
only certain subgroups of patients respond to a specific treatment. Curidium
believes that Homomatrix will ultimately allow for the development of the right
drug for the right patient. The Company files patents around the genes and drug
targets that are associated with the specific subgroups of patients. Further
information on Curidium can be found at the Company's website:
www.curidium.com.
Curidium Medica plc (c) 2002-2007. All rights reserved.
Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BB, United Kingdom.
Email:
info@curidium.com Tel.: +44 (0)20 7554 8790, Fax: +44 (0)20 7554 8791
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange