Diagenic Announces Launch of First Breast Cancer Gene-Expression ...( India Chosen as First Commercial Mark...),Health

India Chosen as First Commercial Market to Demonstrate Test's Potential for

Rapid Uptake

OSLO and FOSTER CITY, California, November 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DiaGenic ASA (OSL: DIAG) and Applied Biosystems Inc. (NYSE: ABI) today announced the launch of BCtect(TM), a blood-based test for early detection of breast cancer. The test searches for a unique gene expression signature identified by DiaGenic using a custom TaqMan(R) Array manufactured for DiaGenic by Applied Biosystems. India was chosen as the first country for the introduction of BCtect(TM) after successful completion of a large study in the country.

The DiaGenic BCtect(TM) test addresses a significant medical need in India, where breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women. The lack of a coordinated national screening program means that breast cancer is typically detected at a late stage, resulting in high mortality rates compared to Western countries. Last year alone, nearly 100,000 women in the country died from the disease. Breast cancer is also on the rise, with an estimated 250,000 new cases expected in India by 2015. A key problem has been the detection of only 10% of cases at an early stage, which lags far behind Western countries where detection rates reach as high as 65%.

Studies show there is more than a 90% chance of surviving breast cancer if detected at an early stage, whereas the mortality rate reaches 90% if this disease is caught at a very late stage. Clinical studies performed on a group of Indian women by DiaGenic have shown that the test can detect tumors early and accurately, in particular among younger (pre-menopausal) women and those with dense breasts.

DiaGenic launched BCtect(TM
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