A MELBOURNE-BASED company has won backing from the Victoria State Government to proceed with the next phase of trials into ovarian cancer detection test Ovplex.

HealthLinx, chaired by Greek-Australian Nick Gatsios, will conduct the multi-million dollar trial to further the accuracy of the current test in conjunction with the Royal Women’s Hospital, the Mater Hospital in Queensland and experts in Singapore and the UK.

Known as a silent killer, ovarian cancer displays very few symptoms in its early stages, making it difficult to detect. More than half of the 1400 women diagnosed in Australia each year do not survive more than five years after diagnosis.

This statistic highlights the importance of developing an early detection test. With Ovplex currently proven 94% accurate, HealthLinx scientists have identified two new biomarkers, the proteins that signpost diseases, that researchers believe have the potential to raise the detection rate to 97% accurate.

“We’re hoping to reveal the same sort of result, if not better than our first study and to have the independent biostatistician stamp it with statistical significance,” Mr Gatsios told Neos Kosmos.

“Our objective is to get it to 97 percent or greater. That would be a best in class in the world. It would definitely be one of the best products that can be used in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer in women.”

With the test currently observing five biomarkers, the potential success of the two newly discovered proteins could double survival rates among women diagnosed with the disease from 46% to over 90 percent.

“Survival rates if diagnosed early will increase, so if we can diagnose women earlier, which the product can do based on our data set, then clearly you’re going to have an increase in survival rates.”

While he is confident of a positive result from the trial however, Gatsios said that developing Ovplex as a screening test for ovarian cancer is a very long way off.

“Specificity needs to be at 99.6 percent and sensitivity needs to be at 75 percent or greater. Whether they’re achievable or not, I don’t know but they’re certainly going to be a little way out, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in order to achieve those numbers.”

HealthLinx was founded in 2003 after a conscious decision by then-accountant Gatsios, to move into the intellectual property field.

It’s a publicly listed company that focuses solely on researching and developing the Ovplex ovarian cancer detection test.