Darmstadt, February 03rd 2023
In the run-up to World Cancer Day on February 4, 2023, experts and patients discussed groundbreaking innovations from biotechnology and medicine that are already helping to detect cancers at an early stage at the „Symposium Krebsfrüherkennung – Früher hilft besser“ (Early Cancer Detection Symposium – Earlier Helps Better).
At the symposium, HanseMerkur Insurance presented its “Krebs-Scan” (Cancer scan) early detection program, which combines the PanTum Detect® blood test from Zyagnum AG with established downstream imaging (PET/CT and MRI) and is available as additional insurance. This holistic approach not only enables tumor detection, but also provides end-to-end care and counseling.
Best-selling author and former breast cancer patient Nicole Staudinger emphasized the urgency of increasing awareness of early cancer detection. After all, less than half of the new cases diagnosed each year can be detected with the screening services currently available, yet early detection is a crucial factor for successful treatment.
Zyagnum CEO Ralf Schierl was also invited to speak at the symposium and emphasized the functionality and area of application of the PanTum Detect®: “The PanTum Detect® provides indications of a possible tumor disease and can thus serve as a filter for which people it makes sense to use an imaging procedure to clarify the suspicion.”
The discussion at the symposium made it clear that innovative approaches in healthcare need to be pushed more strongly – especially in Germany. HanseMerkur is setting an important example here with its “Cancer Scan” program. Thomas Schulz, reporter for SPIEGEL’s editor-in-chief, author and expert on innovations in the healthcare sector, agreed: “We need to be more daring in the German healthcare system. Many people could receive much better care today if we pushed digitization and technologies faster.”
A recording of the symposium is available in German language only.
PRESS CONTACT
Anette Ludwig
Zyagnum AG
Gräfenhäuser Str. 26
64293 Darmstadt
Phone +49 173 769 68 22
E-mail: presse@zyagnum.com
About Zyagnum: The Darmstadt-based biotechnology company Zyagnum AG develops diagnostic solutions for human medicine. Zyagnum has a profound understanding of immunological processes and their connection with diseases. For example, the EDIM® technology developed by Zyagnum can be used in blood tests to detect specific antigens in immune cells that may play a role in tumour development. Today, the company employs more than 50 people and was founded by Zyagnum CEO Ralf Schierl together with Johannes Coy in 2007.
About EDIM®: When the human organism derails and runs towards disease, the immune system is often the first to recognise this, often before any symptoms. The platform technology we have developed, EDIM® (Epitope Detection in Monocytes), uses the mechanisms of the immune system to detect such derailments. The EDIM® technology examines macrophages for antigens that have previously been taken up into the cell interior by these immune cells through phagocytosis – this is why we also call EDIM® an immunological biopsy.
About PanTum Detect®: The PanTum Detect® is based on EDIM® technology and detects the enzymes TKTL1 and DNaseX (Apo10) in macrophages. A large-scale study at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf was able to show that the PanTum Detect® can provide the decisive indication as to which people without typical symptoms and suspected cancer in a healthy screening benefit from further examination by imaging procedures. In the case of the 2022 study, an indication of a previously undetected cancer or precancerous lesion was provided for 124 subjects out of over 5,000 study participants – in the study alone for 29 different tumor entities (Positive Predictive Value: 82%).