EDX Medical scientists working in Oxford and Cambridge have developed a new ‘super test’ for prostate cancer.
The involves blood and urine samples which are analysed using the most comprehensive combination of prostate-related biomarkers deployed to date. The biomarkers detect, characterise and highlight signs of cancer when processed through a specially-created AI-driven algorithm.
More than 100 clinically validated biomarkers are measured in the test compared with current advanced tests which rely on between three and a maximum of 20 biomarkers per test. The biomarkers used in the test are then analysed by the AI-powered algorithm which creates a detailed report of results for doctors and well as generating valuable clinical data.
The AI algorithm demonstrates the presence or absence of cancerous cells, signs of early and late-stage cancer, whether it is slow or aggressive as well as genetic and hereditary risks in the patient.
The company has commenced the filing of patent applications for the test and the AI algorithm for submission to the European Patent Office. EDX Medical’s scientific team will validate further clinical data over coming months prior to seeking regulatory approval from the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with a view to launching the test later this year or early 2026.
EDX Medical expects the test to consistently achieve high accuracy with sensitivity and specificity levels between 96-99% across all ages and ethnic groups. The non-invasive ‘super test’ will be able to detect various sub-types of prostate cancer present, so gives a highly accurate assessment of disease detection and progression as well as risk to patients in higher risk groups such as black middle-aged to elderly men.
The test involves a ‘multi-omics’ approach and comprises a combination of multiple proteomic, transcriptomic, genetic/hereditary and epigenetic biomarker signatures. A comprehensive list of phenotypic and symptom data is added to the biomarker data and is simultaneously analysed by the AI algorithm.
Individually, these biomarkers have all been clinically validated and published in previous and individually proven in previous studies on more than 31,000 prostate cancer biopsy samples as well as more than 100,000 control non-cancer biopsy samples.
