NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Opko Health said this week that it has launched sales of its 4Kscore prostate cancer risk test in additional European territories.
Opko launched the test through its wholly owned subsidiary, Opko Health Spain in partnership with Barnaclínic, a branch of Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. The release follows the US launch of the test earlier this year and a 2012 European launch covering the UK, Ireland, Sweden, and Denmark.
Intended to aid clinicians in deciding if a prostate cancer is high risk and requires biopsy, the 4Kscore test analyzes four kallikrein protein markers – total prostate specific antigen, free PSA, intact PSA, and hK2 – combined with patient age and digital rectal exam status to determine the likelihood of aggressive disease.
The biomarkers were identified by researchers at Sweden's University of Malmo, Finland's University of Turku, and New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and have been tested in more than 10,000 patients to date, Opko said.