Immunovia Accelerates Pancreatic Cancer Study of New Onset Diabetics by Adding Denmark’s DD2 Diabetes Center for Strategic Research

Immunovia AB has signed a letter of intent for collaboration with the Danish Center for Strategic Research into Type 2 Diabetes (DD2). The intention is that the DD2 Center will be part of the groundbreaking PanDIA-1 prospective study into new onset Type 2 diabetics over 50 and their associated risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

The study will involve the use of Immunovia’s innovative IMMray™ PanCan -d blood biomarker assay which is designed to offer rapid, accurate diagnosis of early stage pancreatic cancer and thus increase the possibility of successful intervention. DD2 becomes the second member of what will eventually be a global consortium engaging in this challenge and already includes groups in Sweden.

New onset diabetic patients is a key risk group for pancreatic cancer and a significant market opportunity for Immunovia. Pioneering Danish DD2 Center now becomes the latest member of the world’s largest study of pancreatic cancer, adding up to 3,500 new onset diabetic patients to Immunovia’s PanDIA-1 prospective study.

Diabetes is the fastest increasing disease worldwide. Cardiovascular and renal complications are well known comorbidities, but pancreatic cancer in new onset diabetics over 50 is now also becoming recognized as a significant risk. Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of any major cancer type and a mortality exceeding breast cancer. It can be curable by successful surgical intervention, but is dependent on early detection. The collaboration with DD2 will both involve a retrospective study on samples already collected over several years, and a prospective study running over 3 years.

“Patients aged over 50 suffering from diabetes are a large group and their risk for developing pancreatic cancer is up to 8-10 times greater than normal, clearly an important clinical unmet need and a tremendous market opportunity. We believe that IMMray™ PanCan -d can provide a valuable tool for health authorities and clinicians in their efforts to tackle the problem. Therefore, we are delighted to enter this collaboration with DD2 who are well-known for their pioneering research into Type 2 diabetes and its complications,” commented Mats Grahn, CEO, Immunovia.