You know the thing I found most interesting about that article was that a lung bx. can run about $15,000??? I don't know if this number is slightly inflated, but I do know that we barely see a piece of it. Granted, I know most of the reimbursement is going to IR because they're the ones doing the procedure. But, an 88305 with a standard lung ca. immunopanel might only get you $200-300 which is a very small piece of that pie.
The stock price is only 6.20 right now for this company. Is it worth gambling on?
I've been watching their stock price every now and again since their IPO. The best time to have gotten in was right after their IPO when the hype sort of died off and they were in the $2-4 range. The bottom line is if it ain't approved by CMS, you've got bupkis, regardless whether it's FDA approved or not and whatever clinical trials it may have passed. It may still be worth a small investment, but if you're considering taking the plunge, I would follow closely medicare approval and make sure their targeted rollout of late 2017 isn't delayed. Not saying it'll flop, but a lot of money has been pumped into startup biotech companies like these. Some succeed, many don't. You're either going to hit a homerun with this, or fall flat on your face.
I made a fortune on Digene years ago and am looking for some more cheap biotech stocks to press my luck with.
Big difference. Digene's test was based on HPV screening for cervical ca. which had stronger scientific data supporting it's validity as a risk factor that could be an adjunct to overall prevention as well. OncoCyte's "liquid biopsy" mRNA has no role in prevention because the lung nodule already exists (whether it's malignant or not). And, the sensitivity/specificity to me isn't high enough to implement this test as part of the guidelines for lung ca. screening/dx and obviates the need for bx.
If their specificity is truly 62%, that is AWFUL for a screening test....this could easily result in tens of thousands or millions of false positive calls.
Not to mention the sensitivity of 90%...
Doctor: "You're test is negative, so there's only a 10% chance you could have cancer!"
Patient: "Well, I'm still kinda worried about that nodule, even if it's only a 10% chance..."
Doctor: "You're right, we better do a biopsy and send it to pathology which is over 99% accurate!"
