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Was listening on the radio the other day to an interview of William Annett, the CEO of this new biotech company that just went public last week. They focus in non-invasive cancer diagnostics using the “liquid biopsy” i.e. blood/urine. They purport this as a means of confirming lung cancer in pts being screened by LDCT w/ inconclusive results instead of getting a bx. via detection of mRNA expression in malignant cells.
Here’s their website and podcast of the CEO’s interview:
www.oncocyte.com
OncoCyte's Annett on Liquid Biopsies to Detect Cancer
I was somewhat annoyed when Annett said the current means of detection of cancer is when a scientist/cytologist looks at the cells and makes a diagnosis. Ummm not quite…more like physicians i.e. pathologists. And, according to him, the “liquid biopsy” will replace the “physical biopsy”. Well, not exactly…tissue, blood, and urine are all “physical”. It’s a difference of invasiveness. Clearly this guy has no medical background, but you would think he should have a slightly better understanding if he was appointed CEO with a relatively modest salary, not to mention a former top dog of Genentech.
Lot of potential pitfalls with this and a lot of the other biotech startups. But a ton of money is being thrown at them. Although, I happen to be invested in one, so I’m only slightly calling the kettle black (but I like to think of it as hedging my bets if technology marginalizes our field). In addition, they have a breast cancer screening test in the pipeline to obviate the need for post-mammogram biopsies of suspicious lesions. And, another one is in the works for bladder cancer. I’m not worried that this will be cutting into our volume anytime soon, but curious what others think. Are companies like this the wave of the future or do we have another Theranos on our hands and OncoCyte will end up being on the list of soon-to-be casualties when the biotech bubble bursts?
Here’s their website and podcast of the CEO’s interview:
www.oncocyte.com
OncoCyte's Annett on Liquid Biopsies to Detect Cancer
I was somewhat annoyed when Annett said the current means of detection of cancer is when a scientist/cytologist looks at the cells and makes a diagnosis. Ummm not quite…more like physicians i.e. pathologists. And, according to him, the “liquid biopsy” will replace the “physical biopsy”. Well, not exactly…tissue, blood, and urine are all “physical”. It’s a difference of invasiveness. Clearly this guy has no medical background, but you would think he should have a slightly better understanding if he was appointed CEO with a relatively modest salary, not to mention a former top dog of Genentech.
Lot of potential pitfalls with this and a lot of the other biotech startups. But a ton of money is being thrown at them. Although, I happen to be invested in one, so I’m only slightly calling the kettle black (but I like to think of it as hedging my bets if technology marginalizes our field). In addition, they have a breast cancer screening test in the pipeline to obviate the need for post-mammogram biopsies of suspicious lesions. And, another one is in the works for bladder cancer. I’m not worried that this will be cutting into our volume anytime soon, but curious what others think. Are companies like this the wave of the future or do we have another Theranos on our hands and OncoCyte will end up being on the list of soon-to-be casualties when the biotech bubble bursts?
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