Data show 97% sensitivity for Afirma

Veracyte Inc. (South San Francisco, Calif.) reported data from a U.S. pivotal trial of its Afirma diagnostic to aid in identifying benign tumors from inconclusive thyroid nodules. In 66 thyroid nodule fine needle aspirate (FNA) samples for which surgical pathology results were known, the preoperative molecular diagnostic classifier had 97% sensitivity, 64% specificity and a negative predictive value of 98% for identifying benign tumors when compared to the standard consisting of two blinded expert histopathology reviews. Data were presented at the International Thyroid meeting in Paris. Afirma is based on genomic measurements from FNA samples. ...