The BARD1 Life Sciences Ltd (ASX: BD1) share price is in the green today, adding to strong yearly gains, after the company released positive results from its autoantibody assay.
After touching an intraday high of $3.50 in early trade today, the BARD1 share price has since retreated and is currently trading at $3.17 apiece, up 2.9%.
BARD1 is an Australian life sciences company that focuses on developing and commercialising non-invasive diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer.
Let's see what's driving the BARD1 share price higher today.
BARD1's autoantibody assay
BARD1 is currently trialling the performance of its patented peptides in detecting ovarian cancer and differentiating the cancer cells from healthy control subjects. BARD1's latest study performed by Griffith University showed that it could successfully detect cancer cells.
Griffith University's research found that BARD1's peptides, when used in combination with other testing mechanisms, "substantially improved sensitivity for detection of ovarian cancer" compared to using the other testing processes alone.
BARD1 reports that it increased cancer detection rates from 27% to 91% in subjects.
The peptides were tested on 241 samples, comprising 160 ovarian cancer patient samples and 81 healthy control samples.
This and other research has also indicated that similar results could be achieved with fewer numbers of peptides, simplifying the diagnostic process. BARD1's peptides are strings of amino acids that help identify an immune response to cancerous cells.
What BARD1's management said
BARD1 CSO Dr Peter French said this was an important first step towards validation as a cancer diagnostic tool.
The next step in the development of a reliable BARD1 autoantibody assay for ovarian cancer is to validate the selected peptides and CA125 in the algorithm identified by this combined data set in a larger independent data set to establish the sensitivity and specificity of the test.
For a BARD1 ovarian cancer assay to be successfully commercialised, accurate and reliable assay performance must be established in independent laboratory settings across a broader patient population.
BARD1 share price snapshot
The BARD1 share price is up 6.5% this week against monthly losses of more than 13%. Overall it's risen strongly for the past 12 months and is currently valued 317% higher than a year ago, and 321% higher than the start of 2021.
