Oncimmune Holdings PLC (LON:ONC) announced that NHS doctors and managers and procurement departments will be briefed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the benefits of its blood test for the early detection of lung cancer.
In a statement on Tuesday, the AIM-listed group said NICE’s review of Oncimmune’s EarlyCDT Lung test concluded that it can successfully aid early diagnosis of lung cancer in high-risk patients.
NICE’s advice, which includes comments from clinical experts and which will be presented to all NHS trusts in a medtech innovation briefing (MIB) document, states that EarlyCDT Lung enables earlier and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer in high-risk patients which could mean intervention is offered early.
The MIB says this could bring a potential benefit of early treatment and improved outcomes, as well as a possible wider benefit by saving hospitals from some use of CT scans and radiologists, as well as reducing waiting times.
NICE's conclusions were reached based on four clinical studies across Europe and North America, involving around 15,000 adult patients, which showed EarlyCDT Lung can detect early-stage lung cancer and can be more effective at ruling on lung cancers than current models.
"On behalf of the 35,000 people in the UK who lose their lives each year to lung cancer, we welcome the findings of this NICE review and its consequential advice to all NHS England clinicians, managers and procurement professionals," said Adam Hill, Oncimmune's chief executive.
"Our EarlyCDT Lung test offers the opportunity to find lung cancer at the very earliest stage with a simple, non-invasive blood test. We are ready to work with the NHS to make this test available to anyone who has a risk of developing lung cancer thereby enabling them to get treatment earlier and improve their chances of recovery and survival."