Detecting cancer one drop of blood at a time
VolitionRX (AMEX:VNRX) develops cost-effective blood-based cancer diagnostics based on its proprietary NuQ technology, which detects the level and structure of nucleosomes in the blood using one drop of blood serum. It is currently focused on colorectal cancer (CRC), a very large opportunity with at least 125 million people aged 50-75 not currently being screened with colonoscopies or fecal-based tests for CRC in the US and EU. Data so far have suggested 84% sensitivity and 78% specificity in detecting CRC.
CRC: Patient-unfriendly diagnostics dominate
The current gold standard, colonoscopy, is invasive, expensive and unpleasant for the patient. Fecal screening tests require contact with feces and have high false negative rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 28% of those between the ages of 50 and 75 are never tested with either modality. Data from the EU suggests that at least 70% are not properly screened in that region.
Data promising so far
In data from an initial 938-subject tranche of a 4,800-subject CRC trial, the NuQ diagnostic platform had 84% sensitivity and 78% specificity. Importantly, it shows promise in being able to detect pre-cancerous polyps and early stage disease. Additional large tranches of data from this trial should be released at the end of Q3. Data from a prospective screening trial of 14,000 patients will be available in Q4.
Potential to detect multiple cancers
Pilot studies to detect lung and pancreatic cancers have yielded positive results and the company is currently running a study of 4,200 patients with 27 of the most prevalent cancers to understand which cancers NuQ has the most potential in. Data from the study should start to be released in Q116. The potential exists for multiple cancers to be detected through one blood draw.
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