Precision Therapeutics Announces New Tumor Profiling Product to Augment Utility of ChemoFx® and Further Personalize Cancer Treatment

PITTSBURGH, April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Precision Therapeutics, Inc. announced that the launch of a new product line, BioSpeciFx®, will help further the personalization of cancer treatments.  BioSpeciFx® is composed of carefully selected sets of well validated and clinically useful biomarker tests that identify critical molecular targets within a patient's cell.  By using the information generated by BioSpeciFx® in combination with Precision's sophisticated drug response marker ChemoFx®, physicians may gain a more complete understanding of a patient's tumor.

When combined, both products offer a complementary sum of information which will enable physicians to look at both the relevant molecular targets as well as the synergistic activity of drug combinations on the entire cell.  BioSpeciFx® provides proteomic and genomic information, while ChemoFx® takes into account all of the functional characteristics of a tumor including those not captured by biomarker testing, providing both sensitivity and resistance information.

"The Comprehensive Tumor Profile developed by Precision presents the most complete offering available to cancer patients today, because it integrates both genomic and proteomic information with the functional profiling of ChemoFx®," says Sean McDonald, CEO of Precision Therapeutics.  "We are very excited to provide physicians with a closer look at each patient's tumor as we continue to develop products aimed at personalizing treatments for cancer patients."

About Precision Therapeutics

Precision Therapeutics, a life-science company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is committed to improving outcomes of cancer patients.  As leaders in the science of individualizing cancer therapy through the use of a proprietary and unique live-tissue platform, Precision develops novel markers to help guide treatment decisions based on the biological processes of each individual's cancer.  

Precision's state of the art bioinformatics combined with the analysis of the live molecular, proteomic and genomic activity of each patient's cancer offer an innovative foundation for further development and commercialization of novel predictive markers for cancer therapy. 

ChemoFx® is a proprietary drug response marker which measures an individual's malignant tumor response to a range of standard therapeutic alternatives under consideration by a physician.  Precision currently receives ChemoFx® specimens from 271 top medical institutions including 20 of the 21 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Member Institutions, and 8 of the US News and World Report Top 10 Hospitals for Cancer Care. To date, ChemoFx® Final Reports have been provided for over 56,000 patient specimens, using 105 unique chemotherapy treatments and combinations.

For more information, visit www.precisiontherapeutics.com or www.chemofx.com.

SOURCE Precision Therapeutics