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Isaac Kinde, MD, PhD, Co-founder of Thrive, along with other Thrive scientists conducting research.
“We think the value of this product will be significant, because 75% of cancers are diagnosed when the outcomes are not very good. We can completely flip that paradigm.”
code of genetic signatures that through many years of study have shown were causative
of cancers developing. We also look for elevated protein biomarkers that are highly associated with cancer. We’re able to combine that information into a single test capable
of detecting a wide variety of cancers. This essentially changes cancer detection, and enables us to look for multiple types of cancer in one blood test.
What is the accuracy of this test?
Dr. Isaac Kinde: We recently published the results of our DETECT-A study in April, which included 10,000 women with no prior history of cancer. The results showed we were able to double the number of cancers detected when combining blood testing with standard of care in cases where the results are able to lead to treatment with the intent to cure patients of their cancer—not just offer them improved quality of life without the ability to extend life. Another important finding: We were able to detect cancers from 10 different organs, seven of which don’t currently have any screening options (ovary, thyroid, lymphoma, uterine, appendix, kidney, and areas where cancer
was found but it was uncertain where it arose from).
Isaac Ro: Also, just because a cancer wasn’t detected as part of this study, doesn’t mean the test can’t detect it. For example, in the cohort of patients we tested it is possible that just none of them had pancreatic cancers. That
is one of the reasons why we will run a larger study when we go for FDA approval, but we believe as this technology gets into a broader audience of people you will start to see the detection of many other cancer types.
What is the next step for getting this test on the market?
Isaac Ro: The next step is to do a registrational trial that would be pursuant to FDA approval. Now in diagnostics, you don’t actually need
to have FDA approval for every single test; however, we believe FDA approval will lead
to broader adoption. The other key is getting insurance coverage, which is critical to making this accessible to the average person.
We plan to start our FDA trial in 2021, and in parallel we hope to generate the evidence to show the clinical utility of our test. You have to remember over 98% of people don’t have cancer at any given time so the vast majority of the time this test will come back negative. But those negative results still cost money, so
we have to show that we can deliver a low-cost, high-value product. The good news: We think the value of this product will be significant, because 75% of cancers are diagnosed when the outcomes are not very good. We can completely flip that paradigm.
What plans do you have for the company once you get FDA approval? Are there other possible applications of your technology? Dr. Isaac Kinde: Yes, and first off, we believe we can continue to make multi-cancer screening from blood tests both better and cheaper as we learn more from each test and study. But there are other applications as well such as in the field of surveillance
or recurrence modeling. These are patients who have a cancer diagnosis, underwent treatment, and then you’re looking to monitor when the cancer comes back. Because the same principle that applied for early cancer detection is true for occurrence modeling: The sooner you identify someone who has a recurrence, the better the outcome will be. And that type of monitoring can not only be done using blood, but also other bodily fluids such as urine or liquid-based Pap smears.
So that is just one way we could augment CancerSEEK in the future.
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Courtesy of Thrive Earlier Detection