According to the latest data from the American Cancer
Society, in the U.S. alone over 21,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian
cancer this year, and more than 14,000 will perish from the disease. In most
cases, ovarian cancer is detected by a combination of symptomatic expression
and/or the discovery of a mass or lump during a routine pelvic examination. The
disease is generally feared as a silent killer due to routinely being detected
in later stages, after the problem has already become unwieldy.
This is most unfortunate given that if ovarian cancer can be
detected early enough, the primary endpoint of five-year survivability is
actually quite good, coming in at around 92 percent or greater. The sad reality
however, is that the vast majority of cases are not detected early and are
instead only identified after the cancer has already spread far away from the
ovary, forcing the five-year survivability endpoint down to as low as 27
percent, or even as low as 18 percent. To complicate matters, the only way to
currently obtain a certain diagnosis is through exploratory surgery (either via
less invasive laparoscopy or open surgery if malignancy is expected), and if an
apparently cancerous growth is observed on an ovary, a biopsy is typically
forgone in favor of removing the ovary outrightly. This is in part due to the
risk of a biopsy spreading the otherwise potentially localized cancer, as well
as because the removal of only one ovary will not necessarily induce menopause
or infertility in the patient, so long as the other ovary is in good condition.
Luckily, minimally invasive early detection technologies are
rapidly evolving. Many of which are focused on exploiting key cancer biomarkers
in order to bypass the need for surgical examination. In fact, according to a
publication from MarketsandMarkets out earlier this year in August, the global
cancer biomarkers market has really taken off over the last handful of years,
and it is currently on track to experience a CAGR of 11.6 percent through 2020.
This segment of the global cancer diagnostics space, which is on track to reach
upwards of $168 billion over the same interval (according to a report published
late last year by Transparency Market Research), is currently dominated by
major players like Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Agilent (NYSE: A), Merck
(NYSE: MRK) and Roche (OTC: RHHBY), but there is also considerable room for
true innovators to breakout via disruptive technologies.
One company of particular interest here is Avant Diagnostics
(OTC: AVDX). Avant has secured a worldwide licensing and sponsored research
agreement with Sunnyvale, California-based life sciences developer Arrayit
Corporation (OTC: ARYC) and Wayne State University in order to progress the
state of the art in pre-symptomatic, noninvasive ovarian cancer screening.
Leveraging the patented and proprietary microarray platform developed by
Arrayit, AVDX is currently advancing its flagship diagnostic OvaDx®, a high
sensitivity/specificity screening platform, which has been shown in extant research
to be effective for all types, as well as stages of ovarian cancer. Currently
proposed for monitoring women who have already been diagnosed with ovarian
cancer, OvaDx could go from benchmarking aide to default frontline diagnostic
very quickly, making the company an extremely attractive play for investors.
Recent reception of IRB approval from the FDA in order to
validate OvaDx amid an ongoing run up to 510(k) approval has put the company in
a kind of pole position, out ahead of the field with a nearly-ready diagnostic
tool for physicians that could allow for everything from improved monitoring of
diagnosed patients and the identification of optimal surgical approaches, to
better chemotherapy targeting, and synergy with other existing tests. Effectively
the market’s first large panel screening solution for ovarian cancer, OvaDx has
the potential to be a real game changer in women’s health, and the raw
versatility of the underlying technologies places numerous other diseases well
within striking distance of the company’s rapidly-developing diagnostic
pipeline, including diseases ranging from other cancers such as breast,
prostate, pancreatic, and throat/neck, to CNS diseases like Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s.
Highly accurate, rapid turnover-capable, noninvasive testing
technology like this could transform the diagnostic market for certain diseases
in short order, and AVDX is very bullish about the potential to build out a
pipeline of as many as six key diagnostic tests over the next few years. By
combining organic development of existing capabilities, as well as acquisition
of parallel or complementary diagnostic technologies, Avant seeks to transcend
the ovarian cancer screening market longer term, applying the power of
microarray biomarker validation to a whole host of diseases.
For more information, visit www.avantdiagnostics.com
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