Vermillion, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRMLD), a molecular diagnostics company, presented data from several studies demonstrating the benefits of the Company's ovarian cancer protein biomarker panel. The data suggest that use of Vermillion's biomarkers could help better identify women with ovarian cancer, as well as improve the detection of early-stage disease. Results of these studies were presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists' (SGO) 39th Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer in Tampa, Florida (Posters 080, 135, 175).

"The data presented today continue to confirm the potential of our biomarkers to distinguish between benign and malignant tumors and diagnose early-stage disease," said Eric T. Fung, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Vermillion.

Further Evidence Supporting Ovarian Tumor Triage Test (Poster 135)

A clinical study examining Vermillion's marker panel for ovarian cancer provided independent validation that it can distinguish malignant tumors from benign pelvic masses. Results of the study demonstrated that the biomarker panel could more than double the number of ovarian cancer cases referred to a gynecologic oncologist, thereby improving survival rates and reducing the number of surgeries performed.

A model comprising the Company's biomarker panel was trained on a set of 270 samples from the University of Kentucky. This model was then tested in a prospectively collected cohort of 709 women from Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. Vermillion's model demonstrated portability from the training set to the validation set, which is a critical step in diagnostic test development.

Positive Results in Early-Stage Disease Detection (Poster 080)

The ovarian cancer detection study showed that Vermillion's panel of biomarkers in combination with CA-125 could more accurately identify early- stage ovarian cancer than could CA-125 alone. CA-125 is the only tumor marker for ovarian cancer currently available on the market; however, it is not cleared for early-stage disease detection. When examining stage-1 disease, the combination of the two markers correctly identified 87 percent of the cancers.

The study trained a model on pre-operative serum samples from 231 patients, and then tested the model on pre-operative serum samples from 450 patients. Vermillion worked in collaboration with Robert C. Bast, Jr., M.D. and colleagues from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center on this research.

New Ovarian Biomarkers on the Horizon (Poster 175) Another study found that calgranulin A and B, two proteins commonly found in malignant ovarian cysts, may be useful in helping diagnose and predict prognosis of ovarian cancer.

Researchers at Vermillion and the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center used surface enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF) to analyze ovarian cyst fluids and identify the underlying proteins that could serve as potentially useful biomarkers for ovarian cancer. Fluids from benign (n=45), malignant (n=15), and low malignant potential (n=13) ovarian tumors were examined. The calgranulin proteins were increased in malignant ovarian cyst fluids as compared to benign cyst fluids (p