Diagnostics

Pathway Genomics launches first liquid biopsy test for cancer

Pathway Genomics just launched a liquid biopsy test for multiple cancers, meant for disease monitoring or screening in high-risk patients. It has important implications in precision medicine.

Direct-to-consumer genetic testmaker Pathway Genomics is the first to market in launching a liquid biopsy test that screens for multiple cancers. That means that from a single blood test it will be able to detect whether otherwise healthy person has cancer.

This has important implications for precision medicine. The new, noninvasive CancerIntercept test from San Diego-based Pathway Genomics can screen for multiple cancers – breast, ovarian, lung, prostate and others – from a single blood sample. The cancer mutations it screens for are well-validated, and associated with specific treatment regimens. A simple diagnostic could not only alert patients and physicians of a cancer, but also inform the way it’s treated.

The market for liquid biopsy testing is on the rise. Cowen & Co. estimates that revenues from DNA blood tests for cancer will exceed $10 billion a year by the end of the decade, Reuters points out.

“We’re the first to market – this is the first test of its kind,” Pathway Genomics chief commercialization officer Ardy Arianpour told MedCity News. Indeed, there are multiple players in the liquid biopsy game – including San Diego’s Trovagene and Bay Area-based Genomic Health – but none are yet available to consumers.

There are two versions of the CancerIntercept test. The Detect test screens for circulating tumor DNA strictly in high-risk but otherwise healthy patients – take, for instance, the 50-year-old regular smoker. The other test, called the CancerIntercept Monitor, keeps tabs on patients who have active or previously diagnosed cancer.

Patients can sign up for a subscription for these tests, screening themselves frequently – perhaps four times a year – for a panoply of cancers. The test costs $299 if a subscribing patient takes it every three months; otherwise, a one-off test costs $699.

Pathway Genomics has an interesting sample-collection setup that involves telemedicine. Patients can consult with a doctor remotely – via video chat – to get sanction to take the test. Pathway Genomics contracts out a number of phlebotomists around the country, who can be sent to patients homes to draw the blood for the tests.

The CancerIntercept test isn’t yet applicable to the general public, because it’s sensitive enough to detect false positives – many healthy patients may have benign but cancerous tumor cells circulating in their body. The Detect screener is meant more for the patients a risk of developing cancer, so the presence of an abnormal cell profile in their liquid biopsy is more likely to indicate a malignancy, Glenn Braunstein, chief medical officer of Pathway Genomics, told MedCity News. 

IMAGE: Flickr user Rosemary

Shares0
Shares0