Replies to post #22214 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Re: MZT

I think our views on this subject are aligned. For instance, here is a post about MZTT from almost two years ago:

(#msg-2638482)

>>
Posted by: DewDiligence
In reply to: randychub who wrote msg# 1531
Date:3/19/2004 10:09:55 AM
Post #1532 of 22222

>Patients reaching a certain age, symptoms, past personnel history or family history would probably all use these tests.<

True. When you move to a high-risk subgroup, rather than the general population, the mathematics become much more favorable as the specificity (avoidance of false positives) improves dramatically.

However, restricting a test to high-risk patients can kill the economic rationale for the business. I wish you the best with your MZT but I continue to think that cancer diagnostics are a tough way to make money.
<<

[AlohaDan]

Thanks urche.

I have held stocks through thick and thin, but not Maritech.

I thinks that's Randy's bag.

[randychub]

mzt - urche

I have to disagree with you here. After the first year patients are only checked twice a year because of the high cost. After the 2nd year only once a year. If bladder cancer is caught early the survival rate goes up 50%.

The gold standard is Cytology.

At $20 bucks a shot if I had bladder cancer I would want bladdercheck every month for 5 years. I'll spend the $200 bills. It does have a fairly high false detection rate so I may die of a stroke before I die of cancer but I'll live with that risk. There are 1/2 million people in the US living with bladder cancer.

During the American Urological Ass.’s Western Section 2003 annual meeting, a study headed by Kevin M. Tomera, MD and Alaska Urological Associates concluded that Matritech’s Bladderchek is significantly more sensitive than cytology at detecting the disease in high-risk patients, as well as effective at determining risk of recurrence.

The study compared cystoscopy, cytology, and BladderChek; the NMP22/Bladderchek test had a considerably higher detection rate than cytology (67% vs. 20%). Cystoscopy detected 86% of bladder cancers.

More cost effective than cytology, the Bladderchek test could also be a good adjunct to cystoscopy. The test costs in the range of $20 to $25, which Medicare reimburses for both bladder cancer monitoring and detection. It is a waived test under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

While the test showed a high negative predictive value, it produced a false-positive result in 19 of the 194 patients without bladder cancer. Dr. Tomera advised that such patients need to be watched closely. Earlier data by Mark Soloway, MD, has shown that bladder cancer will be found in 70% of these individuals during the following 3 to 6 months (J Urol 1996; 156:363-7).