News from GENET - 華宇藥品股份有限公司

After entering the pet cancer screening market last year (2021), Uni Pharma (6621) has made important R&D achievements this year, and appeared at the annual forum of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine) this month (6), which is expected to change the clinical screening and post-treatment tracking guidelines for pet cancer care. On 6/28, the stock price was 10.85 yuan.

Uni Pharma commissioned the research team of Professor Lin Chenqi from the Department of Veterinary Medicine of National Taiwan University to develop its own tumor marker DR70, which has been successfully confirmed to be able to detect the tumor marker DR70 in the blood of dogs with cancer after the patented formula treatment, so as to distinguish the dogs with cancer, which has excellent potential for clinical screening of pet cancer. Median DR-70 concentrations were 2.132 μg/mL and 1.163 μg/mL in all dogs with cancer and healthy control individuals, respectively, with statistically significant differences. At a cut-off of 1.513 μg/mL, the DR70 has a sensitivity of 84.35% and a specificity of 83.33%. This result shows that DR-70 has a high diagnostic ability in oncology dogs. DR-70 was approved by the US FDA in 2008 for postoperative adjuvant surveillance of human colorectal cancer. The latest research results published by the research team of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of National Taiwan University also found that the use of DR-70 for auxiliary monitoring after canine cancer treatment has the same results, and the level of DR-70 is positively correlated with cancer recurrence and treatment effectiveness after treatment, and these research results were also published at the American College of Veterinary Medicine (ACVIM) Annual Forum this month. ACVIM is the world’s largest professional organization for veterinary medicine, and since 1983, it has held annual forums to present the latest research findings and provide veterinarians with state-of-the-art information. The results of this study prove that DR-70 can be used not only as a powerful tool for cancer risk detection, but also as an important tool to assist in the evaluation of treatment effectiveness.

According to the American Veterinary Cancer Society, one out of every four dogs will develop tumors, and more than 50% of elderly dogs over 10 years old are at high risk of cancer. However, due to the fact that animals are good at hiding their symptoms, and the general lack of understanding of pet cancer among owners, and the unclear symptoms of cancer can easily be confused with other diseases, it is often too late to find out. At present, DR-70 can warn pets of cancer at an early stage through blood testing, achieve early treatment, and prolong the life of pets. Earlier this year, Volition, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which is also committed to developing pet cancer screening, just licensed its own product Nu.Q® Vet Cancer Screening Test to animal testing giant Heska for $28 million.

Dr. Wang Yushan, general manager of Uni Pharma and a veterinary cancer professional, pointed out that under the trend of rapid economic growth and declining birthrate, the number of pets in the world is showing a positive growth trend, and in order to seek a better quality of life for pets, more and more owners are more willing to pay for pet medical services. According to the 2020 market research report of Markets and markets, the companion animal diagnostics market is expected to grow from $1.8 billion in 2020 to $3 billion by 2024. Uni Pharma aims at pet business opportunities, starting with DR-70, continues to expand its product line, and actively invests in the pet medical market.