Stockholm3 in the Swedish national guidelines for prostate cancer
August 9, 2022
In February 2022, a proposal for revised Swedish national guidelines for prostate cancer was presented and submitted for consultation. The proposal has now been adopted and the group of experts concluded that there is good evidence that Stockholm3 can select men with PSA above a certain level for further investigation and reduce the proportion of men who need to undergo MRI examination.
With around 10,000 new cases per year, prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in Sweden and the most common cause of cancer-related death. Early detection is crucial for treatment outcome.
"We are very pleased with the conclusion of the expert panel regarding Stockholm3. The improved precision that Stockholm3 provides could contribute to saving 1000 lives annually, in Sweden alone. At the same time, unnecessary examinations that both cause patient anxiety and consume substantial healthcare resources can be avoided," says David Rosén, CEO of A3P Biomedical.
In 2018, the Ministry of Social Affairs tasked Regional Cancer Centers in Collaboration with standardizing and streamlining prostate cancer testing in the country and identifying complementary diagnostic tests. The overall goal of the guidelines is to provide a common basis for handling patients with suspected or confirmed prostate cancer, so that the variations between different regions and hospitals are minimized. A revised "National Prostate Cancer Care Program", including recommendations from the National Task Force on Organized Prostate Cancer Testing (OPT), went out for consultation in February 2022 and has now been adopted (1).
The revised guidelines state that "there is good evidence that Stockholm3 can select men with PSA above a certain level for further investigation and reduce the proportion of men who need to undergo magnetic resonance imaging" and that "the local OPT projects are well suited for continued clinical evaluation of Stockholm3".
(1) Prostate cancer – National care program 21 June 2022
About A3P Biomedical
A3P Biomedical is a company that specializes in advanced prostate cancer diagnostics. A3P’s main product, Stockholm3, is a clinically and commercially validated blood test for early detection and risk stratification of aggressive prostate cancer. A3P Biomedical is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. For more information, please visit www.a3p.com
About Stockholm3
Stockholm3 is a blood-based test, that runs a combination of protein biomarkers, genetic biomarkers and clinical information through an algorithm to find the probability of clinically significant cancer at biopsy.
Stockholm3 has been evaluated in clinical studies including more than 90,000 men. It is extensively tested in large population-based screening trials, as well as in real world clinical utility studies in primary care, as a reflex test to PSA at values 1.5-20 ng/ml. Benefits include the ability to reduce unnecessary MRIs, benign and Grade Group 1 prostate biopsies for men with elevated PSA, while simultaneously improving detection of clinically significant cancers in men with low or normal PSA values. Using Stockholm3 leads to a more accurate risk assessment than the current PSA standard. Stockholm3 detects 40-90% more men with aggressive prostate cancer and, at the same time, reduces over-detection by 40-50% compared to PSA.
Multiple Stockholm3 studies have been published in high-impact journals such as The Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and European Urology. The studies address both the specificity and sensitivity of Stockholm3 in multi-ethnic populations as well as health-economic benefits of implementing it in clinical care. For more information about our clinical studies please visit www.a3p.com.
About prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. In 2020, the global incidence of new prostate cancer cases was 1.4 million, and prostate cancer specific mortality 370,000. Global prostate cancer incidence and mortality is expected to rise by 100% and 85% respectively by 2040, driven by an ageing population.
Press contact:
Cecilia Edström
cecilia.edstrom@a3p.com
+46 72 226 2328