The biopharmaceutical company Immunomedics on Thursday revealed that a new study shows one of its antibodies may identify early stage pancreatic cancer.

The company claim that blood test using the clivatuzumab antibody was 62 percent sensitive for detecting stage-1 pancreatic cancer, or cancer confined to the pancreas. It was 86 percent sensitive for detecting stage-2 pancreatic cancer and 91 percent sensitive for later-stage cancers.

Clivatuzumab is presently being studied as a potential treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer.

The research included 68 patients who had pancreatic cancer surgery and 19 healthy patients.

The results presented at the annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in Orlando, Fla, revealed that the blood assay of patients depicted that the test was 62% sensitive for detecting stage-one pancreatic cancer, 86% for stage two, and 91% for stages three and four.

The biopharmaceutical firm’s shares witnessed a jump of 9.5% at $4.63. The stock nearly doubled in 2009 and it has risen by about 45% since the start of this year, post it received a patent for its experimental lupus drug.