Toshiba develops way to accurately detect cancers from drop of blood.

[YBNJay]

Hope this isn't Theranos 2.0

Link

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Toshiba Corp. said Monday it has developed a technology to detect 13 types of cancer from a single drop of blood with 99 percent accuracy.

Toshiba, which developed the diagnosis method with the National Cancer Center Research Institute and Tokyo Medical University, hopes to commercialize it in "several years" after beginning a trial next year.

The method could be used to promote treatment of cancers from their early stage, it said.

The method is designed to examine the types and concentration of microRNA molecules secreted in blood from cancer cells. Toray Industries Inc. and other companies have also developed technologies to diagnose cancer using microRNA molecules from a blood sample.

"Compared to other companies' methods, we have an edge in the degree of accuracy in cancer detection, the time required for detection and the cost," Koji Hashimoto, chief research scientist at Toshiba's Frontier Research Laboratory, told a press briefing.

The test will be used to detect gastric, esophageal, lung, liver, biliary tract, pancreatic, bowel, ovarian, prostate, bladder and breast cancers as well as sarcoma and glioma.

Toshiba has developed a chip and a small device that can conduct the diagnosis in less than two hours at a cost of 20,000 yen ($180) or below.

In its five-year business strategy starting April 2019, Toshiba positions medical businesses, including genome analysis and cell diagnosis, among key growth pillars along with automation, batteries and digital solutions using artificial intelligence.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gbwillner]

Yawn. There are at least 3 major companies right now working on similar cancer screening approaches, all more likely to get to something before Toshiba does.
The issue is not finding a marker that is correlated with disease in the blood (we have lots of tests like that already- Guardant has been selling one for years now). It's identifying the clinical validity of such markers as diagnostic tools without other clinical or radiological findings. That means long clinical trials of thousands of patients being tested to predict those that develop clinical/radiological cancer as predicted by the test.

 

[Dro133]

Yawn. There are at least 3 major companies right now working on similar cancer screening approaches, all more likely to get to something before Toshiba does.
The issue is not finding a marker that is correlated with disease in the blood (we have lots of tests like that already- Guardant has been selling one for years now). It's identifying the clinical validity of such markers as diagnostic tools without other clinical or radiological findings. That means long clinical trials of thousands of patients being tested to predict those that develop clinical/radiological cancer as predicted by the test.

Sounds like cool work -- would you be able to share the names of those companies or share any literature published by them about this work?

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Oncologists sure love Guardant in my neck of the woods. I do too after making a ton of cash buying and selling their stock.

There is nothing wrong making money off of the companies that are going to put you out of work. I advise you do it.

 

[deleted314957]

Yawn. There are at least 3 major companies right now working on similar cancer screening approaches, all more likely to get to something before Toshiba does.
The issue is not finding a marker that is correlated with disease in the blood (we have lots of tests like that already- Guardant has been selling one for years now). It's identifying the clinical validity of such markers as diagnostic tools without other clinical or radiological findings. That means long clinical trials of thousands of patients being tested to predict those that develop clinical/radiological cancer as predicted by the test.

I agree gb. I’ve had cancer, and could still have. Many these markers, etc may help guide therapy but when it comes to the holy hell i encountered under bright lights, cold steel and thousands of rads, i want a no-doubt-about-it tissue diagnosis by a capable pathologist with a confirmation by “experience”.