Motivations for startups can come from many various 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 had been indicators of lung most cancers. To search out out for positive, she tried to get a CT scan, which is at present one of many customary methods of detecting such a 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 could be, what number of obstacles there are for a doubtlessly unhealthy prognosis.”
The scan turned out destructive and Stephany’s mom is wholesome. If OncoSwab succeeds with its analysis, folks like Stephany’s mom can have entry to an easier lung most cancers detection check that gained’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 accomplished from the comfort of residence.
Whereas the motivation for OncoSwab got here from Stephany’s mom, the roots of the startup’s expertise 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 international issues. Stephany’s workforce 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 an analogous check for most cancers, one which analyze a nasal swab and to detect indicators of the illness. Stephany’s workforce gained third place within the most cancers class.
Imaging exams are how lung cancers are generally detected. Past a chest x-ray, strategies embrace CT, MRI, and PET scans. Along with being costly and requiring a affected person to go to a healthcare facility, Stephany mentioned these exams typically come too late. Earlier detection permits earlier intervention, when most cancers therapy gives a greater probability of success. Most lung cancers are identified when the illness has already reached a extra superior stage, which is why dying charges for such a most cancers are so excessive, Stephany mentioned.
Tumors shed compounds that may be picked up in screening exams. Liquid biopsies are primarily based on the power 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 such a 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 help for OncoSwab’s method.
“The tumor is in fixed contact with the airway — that’s why some medical doctors say that it makes complete sense,” she mentioned.
The OncoSwab check is designed for pattern assortment both at a affected person’s residence or on the level of care. Evaluation of the nasal swab seems for biomarkers of lung most cancers. Stephany mentioned these biomarkers are recognized within the most cancers analysis group, however for confidentiality causes, she can not disclose particular biomarkers that OncoSwab is detecting. She did acknowledge that the startup’s check seems 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 ascertain a U.S. lab when the corporate approaches commercialization, which she acknowledges continues to be distant. The expertise will yield a check lead to 24 to 48 hours.
OncoSwab, which splits its operations between San Francisco and Corroux, Switzerland, integrated 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 motive, typically that scan reveals a nodule within the lung that might point out lung most cancers. For a extra definitive reply, the following step is a biopsy. OncoSwab’s check might provide a much less invasive option to decide whether or not a nodule is most cancers.
“That lung nodule could be nothing, in all probability, however it may also be most cancers,” Stephany mentioned. “The system is just too overwhelmed to comply with up. 60%, if no more, are misplaced utterly within the system. In 60%, some could be lung most cancers.”
OncoSwab shouldn’t be the one firm creating a check that detects most cancers from compounds swirling in folks’s airways. Like OncoSwab, a few of these firms have Covid-19 origins. The breath check that Breathe Biomedical is creating for most cancers was conceived through the pandemic. This breath evaluation expertise was in a position to differentiate between these with Covid-19 pneumonia and people with out Covid-19 pneumonia. Outcomes had been printed 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 term, Breathe Biomedical has mentioned it goals to develop its expertise right into a medical machine providing multi-disease detection, a aim shared by many on this rising subject. Corporations creating exams that analyze breath to detect indicators of most cancers and different illnesses embrace Owlstone Medical, Pulmostics, Noze, and Blu Biotech.
Stephany acknowledged that there’s alternative to use OncoSwab’s expertise to different circumstances, together with further cancers. However she mentioned the corporate’s preliminary focus is lung most cancers. OncoSwab is creating its expertise 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 elevate further capital to fund medical analysis.
Illustration: Blueringmedia, Getty Photos
