"This exciting new gene discovery could provide the vital information necessary to create a completely new drug to treat this extremely common disease. In addition, this new set of gene biomarkers, discovered by Health Discovery Corporation, could provide a diagnostic test used to evaluate patients undergoing treatment for BPH."
Dr. Herbert Fritsche
Professor and Chief of Clinical Chemistry
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Health Discovery Corporation has identified and patent protected a subset of genes that separates BPH from prostate cancer with a high degree of accuracy. This same set of genes also separates BPH from normal, indicating that BPH is a disease with molecular characteristics of its own. This new discovery could be used to develop a new non-invasive diagnostic test for BPH, which does not currently exist, as well as a completely type of therapy for patients with this disease.

BPH is the enlargement of the prostate gland that occurs as men age and affects 33 million men worldwide. BPH occurs in approximately 25% of men over the age of 40, 50% of men over the age of 60, 80% of men over the age of 80, and 90% of men over the age of 85. The enlargement often leads to obstruction to the flow of urine flowing through the urethra that passes through the prostate gland. Of the 9 million cases of BPH in the United States, 2 million receive drug therapy treatment while an additional 7 million are "watchful waiters", men who are waiting for new treatments. BPH is a common condition, representing a $3 billion annual market in the United States alone.