Pharus Diagnostics, an innovator in non-invasive diagnostic tests, today announced a significant step forward in the fight against pancreatic cancer. The company is announcing availability of its OncoSweep Pancreas Spotlight, a liquid biopsy screening test that aids in the detection of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in people with elevated risk. The test uses a simple blood sample, next-generation sequencing, and a proprietary machine learning pipeline to analyze levels of microRNA and CA19-9 biomarkers.
In January of 2024, PharusDx entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement with City of Hope, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States with a Los Angeles comprehensive cancer center ranked among the nation’s top 5 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, for a proprietary panel of microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers with testing data demonstrating potential value for early detection of PDAC.
OncoSweep Pancreas Spotlight builds on the biomarker panel and approach from City of Hope, moving the translational academic findings into a Laboratory Developed Test (LDT). This effort leverages PharusDx’s OncoSweep liquid biopsy platform and City of Hope’s groundbreaking early cancer detection research led by Dr. Ajay Goel, Chair of City of Hope’s Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics.
“We have been hard at work validating our pancreatic cancer miRNA biomarker panel and have now completed CLIA LDT validation of our test, an exciting milestone for the company and people at-risk who have limited options for early detection of this devastating disease” explained CEO Philip Huang.
“We are thrilled to bring this potentially life-saving technology developed by PharusDx, based on translational research findings from City of Hope, to market,” said Bowei Lee, Chairman of PharusDx. “An accurate early detection tool can significantly improve outcomes for people with PDAC, particularly when surgical intervention remains a viable option.”
