Oncimmune Holdings PLC (AIM:ONC, FRA:OCY) (LON:ONC) said a three-year follow-up of a large-scale clinical trial involving its EarlyCDT Lung blood test has delivered encouraging results.
The pre-publication data reveal the number of late-stage cancers and deaths were lower in the group of patients assessed using the company’s diagnostic.
Crucially, all-cause mortality, as well as cancer-specific and lung cancer mortality, was reduced.
"The key to cancer survival is early detection,” said Oncimmune chief executive, Dr Adam Hill.
“With thousands fewer patients being referred for lung cancer tests since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the early detection of lung cancer has never been more important.”
The Early detection of Cancer of the Lung Scotland or ECLS trial is believed to be the largest randomised controlled trial for the detection of cancer using blood-based biomarkers. The update was published in medRxiv.
“This paper demonstrates the impact a simple blood test in combination with volumetric imaging can have on cancer mortality,” said Oncimmune CEO Hill.
“Cancer-specific mortality was significantly lower in those tested with EarlyCDT Lung.
“Assuming the three-year survival from lung cancer is 80% in those tested, this would suggest 472 people need to be tested in order to save one life, which is comparable with other established, and widely available screening programmes for other cancers.”