Evogen, UCB Announce Collaboration
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Evogen, and UCB have announced a collaboration for further development of EvoScoreTM START, Evogen's new proteomics-based blood test designed to accurately distinguish epileptic seizures from other events.
The accurate diagnosis of epilepsy seizures remains a challenge to physicians and patients. Current diagnostic tools can be cumbersome, expensive and may have sub-optimal accuracy. The considerable time and cost of current diagnostic methods could pose a burden to patients and healthcare systems, and may also result in treatment delays for some epilepsy patients and inappropriate treatment for others.
The EvoScore START test is a new approach to the diagnosis of epileptic seizures. It analyzes the ratio and concentration of key protein biomarkers in a simple blood test format to determine whether an event was actually a seizure, with sensitivity and specificity of 90% or more. It is estimated that only about 15% of suspected seizure-like events are actual epileptic seizures, yet there are no easily available tools that can definitively distinguish a seizure from another event.
“Evogen aims to be the leader in neurology proteomic and genomic testing, and we believe that EvoScore START has the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis of epilepsy,” said Todd Wallach, president and chief executive officer of Evogen. “We are accordingly thrilled to work with epilepsy leader UCB to conduct further development of this innovative biomarker-based blood test. We have always admired UCB’s long-standing commitment to the epilepsy field and look forward to UCB’s expert help in further refining this important new diagnostic tool for epilepsy patients and their healthcare providers.”
“UCB is excited about the potential of better diagnostic tests to improve individual experiences for people with epilepsy,” explained Jeff Wren, Head of UCB’s Neurology Patient Value Unit. “We believe the availability of more accurate and accessible diagnostics, like EvoScore START, may improve time to care for epilepsy patients and could deliver additional value across the broader healthcare system.”
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Original story from Evogen. Please note: The content above may have been edited to ensure it is in keeping with Technology Networks' style and length guidelines.
