[January 08, 2014] |
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Oasis Diagnostics® Announces Grant Award from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease
VANCOUVER, Wash. --(Business Wire)--
Oasis Diagnostics® Corporation [OASIS] is the recipient of a research
award from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF)
to validate OASIS' development of a non-invasive, saliva-based, rapid
test for Parkinson's disease detection and diagnosis. OASIS will
collaborate with Dr. Charles Adler's group at the Mayo Clinic in
Scottsdale, Arizona to study proprietary biomarkers in saliva that are
the subject of an exclusive license held by OASIS from Danish
researchers.
Research has shown that 50 salivary biomarkers are contributory to
Parkinson's disease, but that as few as three can lead to accurate
diagnosis using the OASIS' VerOFy® platform. The VerOFy® Rapid Test
Platform is an enabling technology for rapid, point-of-care diagnosis
using saliva specimens. In the project supported by MJFF, initial work
will be carried out to confirm that VerOFy® is able to detect specific
concentrations of each of three biomarkers that collectively provide a
high degree of accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) for Parkinson's
disease detection.
Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease is very difficult due to dependence on
clinical examination and the current lack of suitable diagnostic
biomarkers. Tests that do provide some evidence of disease presence -
such as measurement of cerebrospinal biomarkers and imaging techniques -
are expensive and/or invasive in nature. A saliva-based diagnosic test
would be a great benefit to the millions of individuals living with
Parkinson's disease, and the many more who will become at risk as the
population ages. Additionally, validation of Parkinson's biomarkers
could aid clinical trials of disease-modifying treatments by allowing
for study participant stratification and faster testing of a therapy's
efficacy.
Founded in 2007 by Dr. Paul D. Slowey, OASIS develops, manufactures and
commercializes saliva diagnostic and standardized collection tools with
the goal of meeting a worldwide and increasing demand for fast,
accurate, convenient and painless saliva tests.
Several unique saliva tests are currently under development in the
VerOFy® platform device including tests for stress [cortisol], which is
the subject of an NIH Phase II SBIR award, testosterone and estradiol.
VerOFy® provides quantitative biomarker assessment and may be applied to
a multitude of diseases, disease states or biomarkers for use in any
setting where immediate results are required.
About Oasis Diagnostics® Corporation
Oasis Diagnostics® is an emerging Vancouver, WA based company focused on
the design, development and commercialization of salivary diagnostic
tools with applications at the point-of-care, in the laboratory and for
molecular diagnostic testing. The Company has developed a series of oral
technologies that are useful in areas such as general wellness, global
health, drugs of abuse, infectious diseases, DNA and RNA collection,
nucleic acid testing and protein characterization. The OASIS
technologies are protected by a series of US and international patents.
Forward-Looking Statements
Portions of this press release may contain forward-looking statements
regarding future events and undertakings. Forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to
differ materially from any future performance suggested in such
statements. OASIS does not undertake any obligation to publicly update
any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. OASIS urges the reader to consider all of these
risks, uncertainties and other factors carefully in evaluating these
forward-looking statements made in this release and not to place undue
reliance on such statements. As a result of these and other matters,
including changes in facts, assumptions not being realized or other
circumstances, our actual results may differ materially from those
discussed in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking
statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this
release, and we undertake no obligation to update it to reflect
subsequent events or circumstances.
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