Predictive Bio: Putting cancer in silos
A non-invasive diagnostic that could determine the presence or absence of cancer would significantly reduce the number of patients who unnecessarily go through colonoscopies, cystoscopies and biopsies only to discover they are disease free. Predictive Biosciences Inc. is developing urine-based assays that could enable physicians to diagnose new cancers and monitor cancer survivors with significantly less cost, time and inconvenience than current options.
"Billions of healthcare dollars are used to screen patients who might be at risk for cancer; however, only a small percentage of the patients susceptible to have cancer will actually have it," CTO Anthony Shuber told BioCentury. As an example, he said about 80% of abnormal mammograms are false positives. Finding that out currently requires needle or surgical biopsy...