Motivations for startups can come from many alternative locations. For Andrea Stephany, co-founder and CEO of OncoSwab, it got here from household. A number of years in the past, her mom started experiencing a cough and different signs that she feared have been indicators of lung most cancers. To search out out for certain, she tried to get a CT scan, which is at present one of many customary methods of detecting the sort of most cancers. From first complaining of signs to getting the CT scan scheduled took Stephany’s mom 15 months.
“It was 15 months of fixed worrying and pondering,” Stephany mentioned. “It was difficult to expertise that firsthand, how gradual the system may be, what number of boundaries there are for a probably unhealthy analysis.”
The scan turned out adverse and Stephany’s mom is wholesome. If OncoSwab succeeds with its analysis, folks like Stephany’s mom could have entry to an easier lung most cancers detection check that received’t require the time and trouble of scheduling medical imaging. The one factor the check requires of a affected person is a nasal swab that may be achieved from the comfort of dwelling.
Whereas the motivation for OncoSwab got here from Stephany’s mom, the roots of the startup’s know-how stem from a 2022 hackathon within the Dutch metropolis of Leiden. Greater than 100 younger scientists attended the multi-day occasion, which divided members into small groups and challenged them to seek out new options to world issues. Stephany’s staff was amongst these engaged on options for most cancers.
The Covid-19 pandemic was nonetheless contemporary within the minds of many hackathon members, together with Stephany. She recalled the efforts to develop new and higher methods of detecting the novel coronavirus and was impressed to develop the same check for most cancers, one which analyze a nasal swab and to detect indicators of the illness. Stephany’s staff received third place within the most cancers class.
Imaging checks are how lung cancers are generally detected. Past a chest x-ray, strategies embody CT, MRI, and PET scans. Along with being costly and requiring a affected person to go to a healthcare facility, Stephany mentioned these checks usually come too late. Earlier detection allows earlier intervention, when most cancers remedy presents a greater likelihood of success. Most lung cancers are recognized when the illness has already reached a extra superior stage, which is why loss of life charges for the sort of most cancers are so excessive, Stephany mentioned.
Tumors shed compounds that may be picked up in screening checks. Liquid biopsies are primarily based on the flexibility to select up organic indicators of a most cancers that flow into within the blood. The thought of utilizing a nasal swab to detect lung most cancers relies on the character of the sort of most cancers. OncoSwab’s method relies on proof that indicators of lung most cancers are discovered within the air we exhale. Stephany mentioned pulmonologists she has spoken with expressed assist for OncoSwab’s method.
“The tumor is in fixed contact with the airway — that’s why some docs say that it makes whole sense,” she mentioned.
The OncoSwab check is designed for pattern assortment both at a affected person’s dwelling or on the level of care. Evaluation of the nasal swab appears to be like for biomarkers of lung most cancers. Stephany mentioned these biomarkers are recognized within the most cancers analysis neighborhood, however for confidentiality causes, she can’t disclose particular biomarkers that OncoSwab is detecting. She did acknowledge that the startup’s check appears to be like for a mixture of biomarkers, that are analyzed with a proprietary algorithm. Evaluation of the samples will occur in an OncoSwab lab. The corporate has an R&D lab in Europe. Stephany plans to determine a U.S. lab when the corporate approaches commercialization, which she acknowledges continues to be far-off. The know-how will yield a check end in 24 to 48 hours.
OncoSwab, which splits its operations between San Francisco and Corroux, Switzerland, included in 2023. Stephany mentioned her discussions with pulmonologists revealed one other pressing want past screening. When a affected person goes to the emergency room and receives a CT scan for any purpose, typically that scan reveals a nodule within the lung that would point out lung most cancers. For a extra definitive reply, the following step is a biopsy. OncoSwab’s check might supply a much less invasive option to decide whether or not a nodule is most cancers.
“That lung nodule may be nothing, most likely, nevertheless it may also be most cancers,” Stephany mentioned. “The system is simply too overwhelmed to observe up. 60%, if no more, are misplaced fully within the system. In 60%, some may be lung most cancers.”
OncoSwab just isn’t the one firm creating a check that detects most cancers from compounds swirling in folks’s airways. Like OncoSwab, a few of these corporations have Covid-19 origins. The breath check that Breathe Biomedical is creating for most cancers was conceived in the course of the pandemic. This breath evaluation know-how was capable of differentiate between these with Covid-19 pneumonia and people with out Covid-19 pneumonia. Outcomes have been revealed in March 2024 within the Journal of Breath Analysis.
Breathe Biomedical’s most cancers analysis began with lung most cancers. However in 2023, the corporate pivoted to breast most cancers detection. Long run, Breathe Biomedical has mentioned it goals to develop its know-how right into a medical system providing multi-disease detection, a objective shared by many on this rising discipline. Corporations creating checks that analyze breath to detect indicators of most cancers and different illnesses embody Owlstone Medical, Pulmostics, Noze, and Blu Biotech.
Stephany acknowledged that there’s alternative to use OncoSwab’s know-how to different circumstances, together with extra cancers. However she mentioned the corporate’s preliminary focus is lung most cancers. OncoSwab is creating its know-how as a laboratory developed check, which doesn’t require FDA clearance. The corporate is supported by an undisclosed quantity of pre-seed financing and is at present seeking to increase extra capital to fund medical analysis.
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