Castle: MDx for Orphan Cancers
The bulk of molecular diagnostics aimed at personalizing treatment have focused on common diseases, such as breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. Castle Biosciences Inc. is instead focusing on tests for stratifying patients with Orphan cancers. Until now there has been no path to market for these tests, but the company believes it can build a business out of assets in academia that have been neglected by bigger diagnostic companies.
"Where the diagnostic tools for Orphan cancers do exist, they have been developed by academic centers, and there is no commercial outlet. Big diagnostic companies look for big markets, which makes sense because that's the business. We decided to look for academic centers to partner with and bring those tests to market," President and CEO Derek Maetzold told BioCentury...