MONTCLAIR, N.J—MetaStat Inc., a life-science company focused on understanding and treating systemic metastasis, announced recently that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had issued U.S. Patent No. 8,642,277 entitled “Tumor microenvironment of metastasis (TMEM) and uses thereof in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of tumors.”
The patent, which expires in November 2031, contains 27 claims that center on the company’s MetaSite Breast diagnostic assay. According to the company, the MetaSite Breast test is the first diagnostic that directly detects and quantifies the actual mechanisms by which metastatic cells disseminate through the blood stream to cause the secondary (metastatic) tumors that are responsible for 90-percent of fatalities in epithelial-based solid tumor cancers.
“We are pleased to receive this pivotal patent for our initial breast cancer diagnostic, the MetaSite Breast test, which we anticipate commercializing in 2015,” said Dr. Oscar Bronsther, CEO of MetaStat. “We look forward to offering the MetaSite Breast test as part of our suite of novel breast cancer diagnostics targeting the 238,000 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer annually in the U.S. We believe the MetaSite Breast [test] has the potential to allow women and their oncologists to make more informed decisions about their personalized approach to cancer care, including the appropriate role of chemotherapy in their treatment.”
MetaStat’s diagnostics aimed at epithelial-based solid tumor cancers address a $1.7 billion annual market opportunity in the United States alone, the company notes.
The named inventors of this new patent are John Condeelis, Thomas E. Rohan, Frank B. Gertler and Joan G Jones.
MetaStat develops and commercializes diagnostic products and novel therapeutics for the early and reliable prediction and treatment of systemic metastasis, and in this regard the company is focused on breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers, where systemic metastasis is responsible for approximately 90 percent of all deaths.
The company’s function-based diagnostic platform technology is based on the identification and understanding of the pivotal role of the mena protein and its isoforms, a common pathway for the development of systemic metastatic disease in all epithelial-based solid tumors. Both the MetaSite Breast and MenaCalc product lines are designed to accurately stratify patients based on their individual risk of metastasis and to allow clinicians to better customize cancer treatment decisions by positively identifying patients with a high-risk of metastasis who need aggressive therapy and by sparing patients with a low-risk of metastasis from the harmful side effects and expense of chemotherapy.
Additionally, the MenaBloc therapeutic program aims to build upon mena biology and alternative splicing events as a driver of disease progression to exploit novel targets that provide precision medicines in oncology.
