MabCure has reported positive results from a study evaluating its new ovarian cancer diagnostic blood test.

MabCure said the new test utilises the company’s proprietary ovarian cancer monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and is based on re-engineered hybridoma methodology.

The study results revealed that the test was capable of distinguishing between ovarian cancer and benign tumours of the ovary with 100% specificity, ie no false positives.

The blinded study used several of the company’s ovarian cancer MAbs to analyse 54 blood samples from subjects, of which 17 had ovarian cancer, 5 had benign tumours of the ovaries, and 24 females and 8 males were healthy.

In the study, three of MabCure’s MAbs correctly identified 16 of the 17 ovarian cancers, with a diagnostic sensitivity of 94% and 100% correct classification of the benign tumours.

MabCure is planning to conduct a follow-up study of more than 100 blood samples containing ovarian cancer and benign tumours of the ovaries, in collaboration with the Catholic University Hospital, Leuven, Belgium.