The study evaluated thymidine kinase activity in 142 women with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer as a tool for first-line prognosis and monitoring. Activity was measured by Biovica's DiviTum test at diagnosis and after 1, 3 and 6 months of treatment. The patients in the study received standard therapy such as hormonal therapy, chemotherapy and HER2-targeted therapy.

The results show that measurement of levels of thymidine kinase activity with DiviTum predicts patient outcomes and is clinically valuable in improving prognosis and monitoring of treatment of newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer patients. Decreasing levels of thymidine kinase activity correlate with prolonged time to disease progression and survival.

“Our study shows that DiviTum can provide additional information on prognosis and therapy efficacy in women with metastatic breast cancer treated with today's standard therapies. For me as an oncologist, this means that I can get complementary information on the development of the disease that can influence treatment decisions with the goal of better outcome and quality of life for the patient. We are interested in continuing to evaluate DiviTum for women with metastatic breast cancer in larger studies,” said Anna-Maria Larsson, MD, oncologist and lead investigator in the study at Skåne University Hospital in Lund and Lund University.

“The study is a strong confirmation of previous studies in metastatic breast cancer. DiviTum has been used in seven published studies in more than 1,000 breast cancer patients. The study in Lund shows that DiviTum can be used as an independent prognostic tool in this indication. The goal for Biovica is for DiviTum to become a standard tool for evaluating treatment efficacy in patients with metastatic breast cancer,” said Anders Rylander, CEO of Biovica.

Link to the publication: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61416-1