Epic Sciences Announces Presentation of Three Studies on Novel CTC Liquid Biopsy Assays for Metastatic Prostate Cancers and Bladder Cancers at 2015 ASCO GU Cancer Symposium

Circulating tumor cell analysis provides comprehensive information from a real-time liquid biopsy that could help guide treatments for metastatic prostate cancers and bladder cancers

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Epic Sciences announced today that results from studies in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) and muscle-invasive, metastatic bladder cancers using Epic's circulating tumor cell (CTC) technology will be presented at the 2015 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium which will be held February 26 to 28 at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Fla. Epic is developing highly informative diagnostic tests that can detail the dynamic changes in gene and protein expression that occur during the course of cancer treatments to inform therapeutic development, therapy selection and drug resistance mechanisms.

"A major unmet medical need in treating metastatic cancers is in the identification of predictive biomarkers for therapeutic efficacy, disease heterogeneity and drug resistance in the context of key clinical decision points," said Murali Prahalad, Ph.D., president and CEO of Epic Sciences. "The studies to be presented by our collaborators at ASCO GU demonstrate the diagnostic and predictive capabilities of Epic's CTC technology across multiple metastatic cancers in the pursuit of developing actionable liquid biopsy biomarkers to guide treatment decisions. We look forward to advancing and validating these CTC liquid biopsy assays for clinical use."

From a simple blood test, Epic's no cell left behind™ technology applies a global, unbiased approach to approximately six million cells across more than 90 parameters to capture and analyze all possible types of CTCs. This information can be used to compile a comprehensive picture of a patient's cancer to guide treatment choices.

2015 ASCO GU POSTER PRESENTATIONS:

1.  Predictive biomarkers of sensitivity to androgen receptor signaling (ARS) and taxane-based chemotherapy in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) of patients (pts) with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). (Abstract 147)

Thursday 11:30 am to 1:00 pm and 5:15 pm to 6:45 pm EST (Poster Session A)

Highlight: Selected for Audio Poster Tour

2.  Phenotypic characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients to identify a novel diagnostic algorithm for the presence of NEPC. (Abstract 197)

Thursday 11:30 am to 1:00 pm and 5:15 pm to 6:45 pm EST (Poster Session A)

3.  Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and white blood cells (WBCs) in muscle-invasive (MIBC) and metastatic bladder cancer (mBCa) patients. (Abstract 353)

Friday 12:15 pm to 1:45pm and 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm (Poster Session B)

About Epic Sciences

Epic Sciences, Inc. is developing novel diagnostics to personalize and advance the treatment and management of cancer. Epic's mission is to enable the rapid and non-invasive detection of genetic and molecular changes in cancer throughout a patient's journey. The company was founded on a powerful platform to identify and characterize rare cells, including circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Epic's no cell left behind™ technology helps match patients to targeted therapies and monitor for drug resistance, so that the best treatment path can be chosen at every clinical decision point. Today, we partner with leading pharmaceutical companies and major cancer centers around the world. Epic's goal is to commercialize our technology to increase the success rate of cancer drugs in clinical trials and improve patient outcomes by providing physicians real-time information to guide treatment choices.