Onconome has announced positive results of its blood test, designed for the detection of colorectal cancer.
The results showed that the blood test is highly sensitive (93.75%) and specific (82.89%) to colorectal cancer and has a negative predictive value of 99.9775%.
In addition to blood test’s results, the company has reported that two additional clinical trials are now underway at three independent sites to further evaluate the test’s efficacy as a pre-screening tool.
The first trial, ONC04, is designed to evaluate blood samples from subjects who are 50 to 80 years old and are considered to be at elevated risk of colorectal cancer and who are scheduled for colonoscopy.
The ONC05 second trial will include patients who have already been diagnosed with colorectal cancer or pre-cancerous adenomas via colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy and are scheduled for surgery.
The company said both the trials are expected to be completed in 2013.
Onconome chief executive officer Ray Cairncross said it is an established fact that nearly half of adults age 50 or older have not had a colonoscopy in the past ten years and that relatively few use fecal occult blood test home kits.
"A simple blood test which addresses these low compliance rates and provides both patients and their clinicians with an accurate assessment of an individual’s risk of CRC would be an important tool in deciding whether to have a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy," Cairncross added.