Stockholm3 in proposal for new national guidelines in Sweden

February 17, 2022

On 16 February the revised national prostate cancer guidelines were announced. The revised guidelines state “that there is solid evidence that Stockholm3 can select men with PSA above a certain level for further investigation and, at the same time, reduce the proportion of men who need to undergo magnetic camera examination”. The guidelines have been submitted for consultation and are expected to be introduced in 2022.

”We are very pleased that the improved precision that Stockholm3 provides contributes to Sweden now evaluating modern tools for early detection of prostate cancer. This is an opportunity to save up to 1,000 lives per year in Sweden alone,” said David Rosén, CEO of A3P Biomedical.

In 2018, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs commissioned the Regional Cancer Centers to standardize and streamline prostate cancer testing in Sweden and identify complementary diagnostic tests. Revised “National prostate cancer guidelines” have now been submitted for consultation and contain recommendations from the national working group for organized prostate cancer testing (OPT) (1).

The revised guidelines state “that there is solid evidence that Stockholm3 can select men with PSA above a certain level for further investigation and, at the same time, reduce the proportion of men who need to undergo magnetic camera examination” and that “the local OPT projects are well-suited for further clinical evaluation of Stockholm3”. The revised guidelines are planned to be introduced after the consultation round, which ends in May 2022.

(1) Referral round – National prostate cancer guidelines, February 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