Aureon launches prostate cancer predictor

Aureon Laboratories has released Prostate Px, a test to predict prostate cancer regression and disease recurrence at the time of diagnosis. The technology combines molecular biomarkers, histological and clinical information with advanced mathematics, said Ricardo Mesa-Tejada, MD, vice president of pathology and medical director of Aureon Laboratories.

The predictive model on which Prostate Px is based was tested in 1,027 men. The model identified twice as many high-risk events in low and intermediate risk patients than the best available method, according to the company.

The study was led by Michael J. Donovan, MD, PhD, from Aureon Laboratories and retrospectively examined a cohort of 758 patients with clinically localized or locally advanced prostate cancer. Integrating clinicopathologic variables with imaging and biomarker data resulted in a highly accurate tool for predicting clinical failure within five years after prostatectomy, according to the results (JCO 26:3923-3929, 2008).

Aureon was recently granted two U.S. patents for the “systems pathology” technology behind Prostate Px.