Biohit Oyj Announces Meta-Analysis of Studies Conducted with GastroPanel®

The first meta-analysis of the scientific studies conducted with GastroPanel® test has been completed. GastroPanel® is a unique test for diagnosing helicobacter gastritis (infection) and atrophic gastritis developed from it.  Atrophic gastritis, which is usually asymptomatic, can be detected only with GastroPanel® or gastroscopy and biopsy examination. Particularly for this reason, a stomach cancer developed as a result is diagnosed at late stages, when the prognosis is usually very poor.
The meta-analysis included systematically all the studies analysing the sensitivity and specificity of GastroPanel® test in diagnosing atrophic gastritis. Although there is variation between individual studies, results of the meta-analysis confirm that GastroPanel® is a sensitive and specific test for detecting atrophic gastritis in both corpus and antrum of the stomach. The scientific report of the meta-analysis has been accepted for publication in Anticancer Research journal (1).
Biohit Oyj has developed the GastroPanel® blood test for diagnosis and screening of helicobacter gastritis and associated atrophic gastritis causing stomach cancer risk and other sequels as well. GastroPanel® is the only diagnostic test detecting both helicobacter gastritis and atrophic gastritis developed from it, unlike the other helicobacter tests, such as ¹³C urea breath test and fecal antigen test. Additionally, these tests can give false positive and false negative results of helicobacter in cases, when the correct diagnosis would be vital.
Chief Medical Director, Kari Syrjänen, Biohit Oyj: ‘A comprehensive and carefully conducted meta-analysis represents the strongest level of evidence when assessing the reliability of medical information. Meta-analysis is a method investigating e.g. the characteristics of a diagnostic test on the basis of all the published information. In this meta-analysis, GastroPanel® test was compared with the biopsy-confirmed diagnoses based on gastroscopy. Excellent performance of GastroPanel® in the diagnosis of atrophic gastritis was entirely explained by the results of the individual studies, and no unknown explanatory factors were revealed.’
CEO Semi Korpela, Biohit Oyj: ‘The study confirmed the results of the individual studies stating that the unique GastroPanel® is a reliable helicobacter test in the diagnostics of atrophic gastritis developed from helicobacter gastritis. The study confirms the view that due to patient safety, GastroPanel® test should be used as the first-line diagnostic test in health monitoring of the asymptomatic people and in diagnosis of all dyspeptic patients (1-3).’
1. Manuscript Syrjänen K: A Panel of Serum Biomarkers (GastroPanel®) in Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Atrophic Gastritis. Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis has been accepted for publication in Anticancer Research journal.
2. Additional information on GastroPanel® test in the diagnostics of helicobacter gastritis and atrophic gastritis developing from it: www.biohithealthcare.com/additional-information
3. Agréus L, Kuipers EJ, Kupcinskas L, Malfertheiner P, Di Mario F, Leja M, Mahachai V, Yaron N, van Oijen M, Perez Perez G, Rugge M, Ronkainen J, Salaspuro M, Sipponen P, Sugano K and Sung J: Rationale in diagnosis and screening of atrophic gastritis with stomach-specific plasma biomarkers. Scand J Gastroenterol  47: 136-147, 2012.
Additional information:
CEO Semi Korpela, Biohit Oyj
tel. +358 9 773 861
investor.relations@biohit.fi
www.biohithealthcare.com
Biohit in brief
Biohit Oyj is a globally operating Finnish biotechnology company. Biohit mission is “Innovating for Health” – we produce innovative products and services to promote research and early diagnosis. Biohit is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, and has subsidiaries in Italy and the UK. Biohit Series B share (BIOBV) is quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki in the Small cap/Healthcare group. www.biohithealthcare.com