I’m delighted to learn of Abcodia’s latest partnership with BIOUNIVERSA Srl, a spin-out from the University of Salerno, which aims to advance the development of the BAG3 protein biomarker for use in the early detection of pancreatic cancer.

BIOUNIVERSA has strong scientific evidence that suggests that serum BAG3 is elevated in patients with pancreatic cancer at the time of clinical diagnosis. Working with Abcodia, the company now aims to further develop the BAG3-based immunodiagnostic by assessing its utility for detecting pancreatic cancer at the earliest stages and in asymptomatic individuals.

Conventional approaches to biomarker discovery use clinical samples from symptomatic patients. But, the discovery and validation of novel screening biomarkers requires samples that significantly precede diagnosis. Between 2001 and 2005 over 202,600 women volunteers were enrolled into the UKCTOCS trial and volunteers donated a serum sample on trial entry, with 50,000 women continuing to donate serum annually for up to 10 years, so there are now 5 million serum samples available.

Abcodia, a spin-out from University College London,  has the exclusive commercial rights to this biobank and was formed so that this unique resource could be used to discover or validate novel biomarkers.

Their value has been recognised by Professor Roberto Parente, VP of External Relations at BIOUNIVERSA and Professor of Management at the University of Salerno, who say:

“This collaboration with Abcodia provides access to thousands of quality serum samples, expertise in longitudinal designs and importantly links with other commercial companies. Without access to this cohort of longitudinal and preclinical samples, the further development of our technology would take several years and a large financial commitment. With Abcodia, we are hopeful to accelerate our development and seek a commercial licensee over the next 12 months.”

*Abcodia is now accepting proposals from SMEs and academics to access the prospective serum biobank for the validation of biomarkers for the early screening of cancers. For further details, please read this link.