Gen-Probe HPV assay trial
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
San Diego diagnostics firm Gen-Probe begins a 7,000-patient U.S. pivotal trial in late March of its Aptima molecular assay to detect human papillomavirus (HPV). The amplified nucleic acid test detects 14 high-risk HPV types associated with cervical cancer. One arm of the multi-center clinical study will enroll women whose Pap results are classified as atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (meaning they are neither normal nor clearly indicative of progression to cervical cancer), and the other arm will enroll women over age 30 with normal Pap results. Qiagen/Digene (Hybrid Capture 2) offers the only FDA-approved molecular assay for HPV, but a number of competitors are seeking market entry (1"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 21, 2008, p. 22)