LUND and LINKÖPING, Sweden, May 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Immunovia AB today announced that Linköping University Hospital is to participate in PanFAM-1, the largest ever prospective study looking at early diagnosis in high-risk individuals with Familial Pancreatic Cancer (FPC). Designed to validate Immunovia ́s innovative blood test, IMMray™ PanCan-d, the study will analyze more than thousand individuals over three years across sites in Sweden, the US and Europe already offering FPC screening programs. The aim is to improve the outcome for the cancer patients and to prove the overall healthcare benefits of testing persons with heredity for pancreatic cancer. Parallel to this Immunovia is also running a study for another newly identified high risk group, new onset diabetics over 50 years of age.

"We know from worldwide experience that early surgical intervention is essential in treating pancreatic cancer," says Associate Professor Thomas Gasslander, Dept of Surgery, Linköping University Hospital. "Members of families with heredity for pancreatic cancer have an increased risk to develop pancreatic cancer, but so far we lack accurate, non-invasive early diagnostic tools. A test such as IMMray™ PanCan-d could be of great value in the surveillance of this group and therefore we are pleased to join the PanFAM-1 study along with other colleagues in Sweden, USA, UK and Spain."

"The entry of Linköping University Hospital to PanFAM-1 marks a major step forward as we aim to establish a national program for early detection of pancreatic cancer among major risk groups here in Sweden," commented Mats Grahn, CEO, Immunovia. "It also strengthens the study's overall reach across Europe and the US. We are on schedule to present interim results in 2019."

The other PanFAM-1 partners to date are: Mount Sinai, New York; Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR; The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Pittsburgh, PA; The Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; NYU School of Medicine, New York; The University of Liverpool, UK; Ramon y Cajal Institute for Health Research Madrid, Spain; University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Spain and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. Advanced discussions over potential participation continue with several other European and US centers running high risk surveillance programs.

For more information, please contact:

Mats Grahn
Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Immunovia
Tel.: +46-70-5320230
Email: mats.grahn@immunovia.com 

About Immunovia 

Immunovia AB was founded in 2007 by investigators from the Department of Immunotechnology at Lund University and CREATE Health, the Center for Translational Cancer Research in Lund, Sweden. Immunovia's strategy is to decipher the wealth of information in blood and translate it into clinically useful tools to diagnose complex diseases such as cancer, earlier and more accurately than previously possible. Immunovia´s core technology platform, IMMray™, is based on antibody biomarker microarray analysis. The company is now performing clinical validation studies for the commercialization of IMMray™ PanCan-d that could be the first blood based test for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In the beginning of 2016, the company started a program focused on autoimmune diseases diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring. The first test from this program, IMMray™ SLE-d, is a biomarker signature derived for differential diagnosis of lupus, now undergoing evaluation and validation. (Source: www.immunovia.com)

Immunovia's shares (IMMNOV) are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.immunovia.com.

About Pancreatic Cancer  

Pancreatic Cancer is one of the most deadly and difficult to detect cancers, as the signs and symptoms are diffuse and similar to other diseases. There are more than 40,000 deaths and over 50,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the U.S. alone, and the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is currently 5-8 %. It is predicted to become the second leading cause of cancer death by 2020. However, because resection is more successful in stage I/II, early diagnosis can significantly improve pancreatic cancer patients' 5-year survival rates from 5-8 % to up to 49%.

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SOURCE Immunovia AB