About AdMeTech

Overview

AdMeTech Foundation develops strategic partnerships with academia, advocacy, industry, and government to facilitate development and implementation of accurate, affordable, accessible diagnostic tools for improved early detection and treatment of prostate cancer. Specific objectives include:

• Development and implementation of effective strategy for technological innovation and related research
• Education of medical community and general public.

Prostate Cancer Epidemic

• 1 in 6 men is stricken compared to 1 in 7 women stricken with breast cancer
• African American men are even more likely to be stricken and die, with
• 60% higher incidence;
• More than 2.5 times higher mortality rate;
• A new case is diagnosed every 2.5 minutes (or over 230,000 new cases every year).

AdMeTech’s Challenge
Men do not have diagnostic tools, similar to that of the life‐saving mammogram.
While state‐of‐the‐art diagnostics, such as PSA blood test and biopsy have made it possible to detect prostate cancer earlier, there is no scientific evidence to support their impact on saving lives and cost-effectiveness of patient care:

• PSA causes false reassurances and false alarms:
• When PSA is normal, 15% of men still have cancer
• When PSA is abnormal, only 12% of men have prostate cancer.
• Biopsies are blind and random:
• Miss at least 20% of cancer
• Underestimate cancer in at least 20‐30% of men.
• In many men, current diagnostic are insufficient to distinguish virulent prostate cancer treatment from the non‐aggressive disease which requires only careful monitoring.

Patient Care Crisis:
The numbers are staggering. Each year:

• Over 27,000 men die (a man dies every 18 minutes)
• Over 1 million men have unnecessary and traumatic biopsies due to false alarms, costing more than $2 billion in health care costs
• Over 70,000 men (or about 50%) experience failure of treatment
• Blind treatment leaves up to 50% of men incontinent and impotent
• Many men have unnecessary treatment:
• At least 10% of men have unnecessary surgery
• At least 44% of men have unnecessary radiation treatment
• Current treatment costs approximately $8 billion per year.

Advanced imaging will improve diagnostics, eliminate unnecessary procedures and allow for minimally-invasive treatment. Health care savings could be more than $5 billion annually.

Imaging is the Solution:
Advanced diagnostic technologies will make a direct and profound impact on quality of care, quality of life, and health care costs, including:

• Saving men's lives
• Identifying men requiring preventive measures
• Improving early detection, and staging, of cancer which is critical for cure
• Eliminating unnecessary treatment ‐with all the related complications and costs ‐ by recognizing non‐aggressive prostate cancer
• Enhancing patient monitoring before, during, and after treatment
• Avoiding unnecessary biopsies
• Allowing for least invasive and most effective treatment:
• To be performed in outpatient clinics
• With minimal complications, discomfort and expense
• Reducing health care costs by at least $5 billion per year.

Emerging Scientific Evidence:
A Glimpse of the Future
Preliminary research results in leading academic institutions indicate that MRI and other novel imaging technologies can detect prostate cancer missed with standard diagnostic tools, including biopsy (see Figure 1, Courtesy of Dr. Hedvig Hricak , Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center).

AdMeTech’s Research Program Produces Quick Results
Telemedicine and Advanced Technologies Research Center of the Department of Defense supports AdMeTech’s research program which expedites development of novel imaging technologies. Examples of the funded projects include:

• Development of the first‐generation medical robotics dedicated to prostate cancer biopsy and treatment at Johns Hopkins University – within one year of funding;
• Fundamental discovery of novel molecular pathways for imaging, which would enable early detection, assessment of aggressiveness, and improved prediction of response to treatment at Dana Farber Cancer Institute– within six months of funding;
• Development of new generation, prostate‐dedicated optical technologies for detection of prostate cancer and guidance of biopsy at Boston University– within one year of funding;
• Discovery of new molecular imaging agents at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins University – within one year of funding.

AdMeTech’s Educational Campaign
AdMeTech convenes public conferences and other educational events where leaders of the medical, industrial, philanthropic, government, consumer, media and entertainment communities review the state‐ and create a vision for prostate cancer care. These events offer a crucial opportunity to stimulate new ideas, develop high‐impact scientific projects, and shape research strategy. An important component of this educational effort is to discuss innovative pathways to expedite the transfer of promising technologies from laboratories to patients with Congressional leaders.

U.S. Congress Supports AdMeTech’s Initiatives
AdMeTech has been successfully working with members of the U.S. Congress to develop legislative initiatives calling upon the federal government to put forth the resources necessary to advance prostate diagnostics, including:

• U.S. Senate S. 1734 The PRIME (Prostate Research Imaging & Men's Education) Act;
• U.S. House of Representatives H.R. 3563 The PRIME (Prostate Research Imaging & Men's Education) Act; and
• U.S. House Resolution 353 states that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress and the Executive Branch should recognize the successful use of advanced imaging technologies in the fight against breast cancer and provide additional support for the research and development of technologies for prostate cancer detection and treatment comparable to state-of-the-art mammograms.

AdMeTech’s Appeal
In the current cost‐sensitive health care environment, many promising innovative technologies do not find support from traditional funding entities, such as clinical facilities, industry and government. Federal and private support permits AdMeTech and its partners to expedite the development and testing of novel imaging technologies in order:

• To arm physicians with diagnostic technologies for men similar to those women currently have in the fight against breast cancer; and

Organization