There is no reliable diagnostic blood test for ovarian cancer. The current market gold standard, CA125, is used as an aid in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, monitoring treatment efficacy and the detection of disease recurrence. CA125, however, does not display adequate sensitivity or specificity as a primary diagnostic for ovarian cancer at any stage of disease progression. Hence, most women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer when it is too late to be treated, reducing the probable survival rates.

Considering this unmet medical need, a team of scientists at HealthLinx, an emerging biomarker and diagnostic company with an integrated platform in biomarker and bioactive peptide discovery platforms from Australia developed and launched diagnostic test called OvPlex, which is a superior performing alternative to CA125, for the diagnostic process to identify ovarian cancer in symptomatic women.

The product won the BioSpectrum Asia Pacific Bioscience Industry Product of the Year Award for 2010.

"The reason ovarian cancer is the most lethal of the reproductive tract cancers is that 75 percent of women with ovarian cancer are not diagnosed until late stage disease. Their chances of surviving five years are probably only 20-30 percent. If the disease is diagnosed at an early stage, when it is contained within the ovaries, the chance of surviving five years rises to 80 percent. That is why it is so important to try and develop better tests for diagnosing ovarian cancer, particularly early stage disease. That is where we can make a difference and save lives," observes Prof. Greg Rice, Chairman of HealthLinx, Australia.

Worldwide 230,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed annually with more than 142,000 disease fatalities. Ovarian cancer at its early stages (I/II) is difficult to diagnose until it spreads and advances to later stages (III/IV). This is because most symptoms are non-specific and thus of little use in diagnosis.

A ray of hope

While launching the diagnostic kit, Mr Nick Gatsios, Managing Director of HealthLinx, says "This is a medical milestone in women's health. Most importantly, we believe this test could lead to many hundreds of lives being saved in Australia and world over."