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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