found this article in google search sorry it iss so long but it sounds so good.
Ovarian Cancer Test Could Save Lives by Detecting Deadly Illness in Stage One
TAMPA, Fla. (Dec. 3, 2007) – An aggressive, silent killer of women could soon be caught and identified much faster thanks to new technology developed at the University of South Florida.
The USF Division of Patents & Licensing has recently entered into a strategic partnership with Largo, FL.-based GeoPharma, Inc. to advance a critical development in the area of women’s health. GeoPharma signed an agreement last week with the USF Research Foundation to acquire worldwide patent rights of a test for early detection of ovarian cancer using a patient’s urine sample. Valerie McDevitt, director of the Division of Patents and Licensing for the USF Research Park, said she looks forward to partnering with GeoPharma.
“We’re very excited,” McDevitt said. “It’s a local company so we’re hoping for good things. We want to support local businesses. This could help large numbers of women and it is part of USF President Judy Genshaft’s mission to promote biotech at USF.”
Kotha Sekharam, president of GeoPharma, said he enjoyed dealing with USF and that they “came very fast” to an agreement on licensing the test.
Sekharam said that ovarian cancer is often called a “silent killer” because of vague symptoms that are unnoticed until the disease has progressed to an advanced stage. The most deadly of all gynecological cancers, ovarian cancer is also the most curable with early detection.
“An ovarian cancer diagnostic test with (a) high reliability, (b) ease of use and (c) detection at an early stage could save thousands of women from untimely deaths. Our technology could offer significant help in this direction” he said.
With a five-year survival rate of only about 35 percent, the National Cancer Institute estimates 15,280 women in the US will die from ovarian cancer in 2007.
When ovarian cancer spreads from the pelvis, less than 30 percent of patients survive long-term. When it is limited to the ovaries, 90 percent of patients can be cured. Currently early stage diagnosis occurs in only 20 percent of the ovarian cancer cases.
Dr. Patricia Kruk (shown in photo at right), who developed the test at USF and is an affiliate at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, has long wanted to find a way to catch the disease in its early stages.
“My interest has always been to identify some of the early changes to ovarian epithelial cells that cause them to become malignant,” Kruk said.
Ovarian cancer “doesn’t get nearly as much press as other women’s cancers, but it is the most lethal gynecological cancer,” Kruk added. “There are almost no symptoms and there is no screening test for it. Unfortunately, if it was detected when the disease has not spread beyond the ovary, you could remove the ovary and significantly improve patient survival.”
Currently, there is no approved test for early detection of ovarian cancer. The only ovarian cancer diagnostic test is the CA-125 blood test that is approved by FDA to monitor progression of the disease. For best accuracy, CA-125 test is done with other physical tests like transvaginal sonography and pelvic examination.
Preliminary clinical studies have been conducted at USF and further studies are under progress. GeoPharma will initiate necessary steps for FDA approval.