Exosome Diagnostics, PCF Partner to Improve Prostate Cancer Dx Technologies

Exosome Diagnostics and the Prostate Cancer Foundation have announced a multi-year collaboration to assess the capabilities of RNA biofluid diagnostics for the detection of prostate cancer and to accelerate clinical validation of Exosome's technology for the disease.

The partnership will evaluate new RNA biofluid diagnostics for the early detection, progression monitoring, and advanced disease risk stratification in prostate cancer, Exosome and PCF said.

The collaboration, which brings together clinicians, researchers, and industry personnel, will support near-term in vitro clinical validation of known prostate cancer biomarkers and "a robust biomarker discovery program" for the disease "from diagnosis through progression and treatment."

"We believe that exosome technology may represent an opportunity to improve patient outcomes through more specific diagnosis than is currently available with the standard PSA test," Howard Soule, chief science officer of PCF, said in a statement.

Soule continued, "Exosome technology may also help address growing concerns about over-diagnosis and over-treatment."

The partners also announced that Soule is joining Exosome's scientific advisory board.
Last week, the US Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft recommendation that healthy men should not be given the PSA test because, in addition to not saving lives, the test often results in more tests and treatments that are unnecessary.

Exosome CEO James McCullough said in a statement that the partnership with PCF "assures that we have the right people at the table on the front side of the clinical translation process to accurately assess unmet medical opportunities, properly design validation studies, and deliver exosome technology benefits quickly to patients."