Further evidence for the use of the EarlyCDT Lung blood test
in lung cancer screening
Dr Adam M Hill, CEO of Oncimmune, said: “Following last week’s announcement of the publication of the ECLS trial in the European Respiratory Journal, we are delighted to see these additional abstracts presented online.
“Beyond proving the ability of the EarlyCDT Lung blood test to detect cancer earlier in a screening population, it is also important to assess the negative impacts of using the test in the population, and the costs of implementing the diagnostic. These findings will no doubt assist our ongoing commercial discussions with health authorities in the UK and in other territories, and we look forward to the peer reviewed publications in due course.”
Oncimmune Holdings plc (AIM: ONC.L), the leading global immunodiagnostics group, announces the presentation of two further abstracts connected to the Early detection of Cancer of the Lung Scotland (“ECLS”) trial. These studies build upon the growing body of evidence which demonstrates that the EarlyCDT Lung blood test is a cost effective and safe early detection tool for people at risk of lung cancer.
The first abstract entitled “Cost-effectiveness of a blood test, plus imaging, to screen for lung cancer in high risk individuals: the Early detection of Cancer of the Lung Scotland (ECLS) trial” was presented at The European Health Economics Association (“EUHEA”) virtual conference in July 2020 and is available on the EUHEA website1. The abstract shows that screening using the EarlyCDT Lung blood test to triage into CT scanning in the ECLS trial is a cost-effective method to diagnose lung cancer when compared to the established NICE guidelines on incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (“ICER”) cost per quality-adjusted life-year (“QALY”) for an acceptable use of NHS resources.
This evaluation was made using only those parameters observed in the ECLS trial; the abstract’s conclusion that the EarlyCDT Lung blood test is cost-effective excluded the additional costs of lung cancer treatment and enhanced survival from earlier detection. Indeed, the cost-effectiveness of the EarlyCDT Lung blood test was shown to be further improved in the investigator’s model when cancer prevalence was increased to 2% in the tested population, suggesting that the real world cost effectiveness of the EarlyCDT Lung blood test is likely much more attractive.
The second abstract entitled “What is the psychological impact of lung cancer screening using a novel antibody blood test?” was due to be presented at the Society for Academic Primary Care (“SAPC”) conference in July 2020 but has been delayed due to COVID19 and will now be presented at the SAPC conference in June 2021. This abstract, published online2, assesses the psychological responses to screening participants using the EarlyCDT Lung blood test during the ECLS trial. These findings show that lung cancer screening using the EarlyCDT Lung blood test does not appear to have a long term negative psychological impact on patients.
About Oncimmune
Our intimate understanding of the human immune system enables us to harness its sophisticated response to disease to detect cancer earlier and to support the development of better therapies.
The key to improving cancer survival is early detection and better selection for therapy. As a company, we are driven by our passion to improve cancer survival and give people extra time. Oncimmune’s immunodiagnostic test, EarlyCDT, can detect and help identify cancer on average four years earlier than standard clinical diagnosis.
The unique combination of our core technology and understanding of the immune system, powers our ImmunoINSIGHTS service; a proprietary platform that enables life science organisations to optimise drug development and delivery, leading to more effective, targeted as well as safer treatments for patients.
Oncimmune was founded in 2002 and launched its platform diagnostic technology in 2009, followed by the launch of its first commercial tests, EarlyCDT Lung and EarlyCDT Liver. To date, over 200,000 tests have been performed for patients worldwide. EarlyCDT Lung was also used in what is believed to be the largest randomised controlled trial for the early detection of lung cancer using biomarkers, the successful National Health Service (NHS) Early detection of Cancer of the Lung (“ECLS”) trial of 12,208 high-risk smokers in Scotland. This trial demonstrated that EarlyCDT Lung reduced the incidence of patients with late-stage lung cancer or unclassified presentation at diagnosis, compared to standard clinical practice.
Oncimmune, headquartered at its laboratory facility in Nottingham, UK, has a discovery research centre in Dortmund, Germany and a partner representative office in Shanghai, China. Oncimmune joined the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange in May 2016 under the ticker ONC.L.
