Company Developing Accurate Pre-Tumorous Cancer Tests

[vibranium]

Imagine a test that can detect cancer four years before any tumours exist.

 

That's what British biotech company Oncimmune is trying to invent. Its first test for lung cancer used in hospitals across the United States has already detected early stage cancer in 80 per cent of diagnosed patients, and next it plans to launch tests for liver and ovarian cancer.

 

Last week, the £66.3 million Newcastle-based company floated on London's AIM market, going against the grain in a quiet first quarter for London's flotation market.

 

It raised £11 million at a price of 130p per share, which it plans to use to produce more cancer tests and expand into Europe and Asia. "We knew we needed north of £10m to achieve two new tests and a hospital testing kit," said Oncimmune's CEO Geoffrey Hamilton-Fairley. "This is not a short-term proposition."

 

The major reason for cancer deaths is late diagnosis -- toxic chemotherapy, combined with the cancer's unchecked growth means your survival chance plummets as you progress through the stages.

 

The Oncimmune tests, which look for cancer antibodies in the blood, could save millions of lives. So far, the company has sold 145,000 lung cancer tests in the US, and hundreds to private hospitals in the UK since launch in 2012.

 

Currently, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) is conducting on of the largest lung cancer screening efficacy trial on 12,000 people, to find out how much money it could save by screening high risk smokers with the Oncimmune test.

 

"We hope there will be a big inflection in volumes of tests sold in Europe as a whole when the NHS trial reports results," Hamilton-Fairley said.

 

ARTICLE SOURCE

 

[Pequi]

There are already tests for triaging prostrate, colon and breast cancer.

If governments bought millions of these kits at cheap rates, (assuming they work), the benefits would be fantastic, both monetary and in diminishing pain and suffering.

Few things are more expensive than cancer treatment.

Yet they spend the money on H1N1 vaccines and Tamiflu for "epidemics" that don't exist.

Big Pharma politics ......

 

[hellosunshine260]

4 hours ago, vibranium said:

Imagine a test that can detect cancer four years before any tumours exist.

 

 

4 hours ago, vibranium said:

The Oncimmune tests, which look for cancer antibodies in the blood, could save millions of lives

I liked this article. I did not realize cancer was present in the body before tumours present.
 

[Pequi]

6 minutes ago, hellosunshine260 said:

I liked this article. I did not realize cancer was present in the body before tumours present.

Cancer = malignant tumor. I think you meant "present in the blood".

We develop cancer constantly, and our immune system makes antibodies that kill the "not-self" AKA "foreign" cells off. These antibodies are usually very short lived and primitive. If a cancer managed to beat the first defense, we will develop more "mature" and persistent antibodies, which may, or may not be enough to kill the cancer.

It's these antibodies in the blood that are detected by the tests, not the cancer cells themselves.

(I simplified it, there are a whole load of other factors at play).

 

[Batu69]

Moved from Technology News forum.