Introduction:On the long road of life, one in three people will be diagnosed with cancer, early detection of cancer is important for cancer treatment Important, but early cancer screening is often overlooked. Early in situ tumors can be surgically removed before they metastasize; however, once the tumor metastasizes far away, it is difficult to be cured by surgery. The window period from tumor cell generation to metastasis is the golden period for tumor detection and diagnosis. For most cancer patients, early detection allows patients to receive timely treatment and have a greater chance of cure. Therefore, early screening and diagnosis of tumors is of great significance.
New progress in early cancer screening: Hedera Dx is favored by capital
Lausanne-based Hedera Dx announced today that it has raised €14 million in seed funding. The round was led by Adam Ghobarah, founder of Top Harvest Capital and a former longtime Google and Google Ventures executive, with participation from Inventure, Air Street Capital, Amino Collective and GRIDS Capital. Funding, in addition to commercial launch this fall, will be used to implement Phase 1 of a large-scale oncology Real World Evidence (RWE) clinical testing program to create a landmark data asset to understand fluids Actual use of biopsy and associated cancer patient outcomes, which will help unlock the potential of liquid biopsy in cancer treatment.
Hedera Dx was founded in 2021 by Tommi Lehtonen, Damien Lapray and Christian Meisel to develop liquid biopsy technology as a groundbreaking new approach to cancer treatment. Hedera Dx is centered around blood-based testing solutions that analyze Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood to help patients get better treatments. Hedera Dx hopes to provide treatments for patients who are at risk for or already have cancer.
Figure 1 Hedera Dx start-up team (Source: EU-starups)
Tommi Lehtonen, co-founder and CEO of Hedera Dx, said: “We are very excited to launch Hedera Dx and partner with investors who share our vision to save cancer patients Information for life. The adoption of liquid biopsy tests and the information in the analysis will also advance our understanding of cancer and open a new chapter in cancer treatment. We can use the funds raised for liquid biopsy in our in-house laboratory The solution is brought to market and has a clear impact on clinical practice.”
Hedera Dx: Addressing Sample Limitations and Simplifying Tumor Biopsies
Liquid biopsy technology refers to the non-invasive or minimally invasive analysis of blood or other bodily fluid samples (eg, in patients with brain tumors, shed tumor cells usually do not enter the blood because of the blood-brain barrier) , but will enter the cerebrospinal fluid, so it is relatively easy to extract and test tumor cells in the cerebrospinal fluid) method of tumor-related substances (such as cells, nucleic acids, etc.). Compared with traditional tissue biopsy, liquid biopsy has the characteristics of convenient sampling, flexibility, and less trauma to patients. It can reflect all the information of the tumor’s genome, and the technology is also highly sensitive to the detection of tumor cells (Figure 2). .
Figure 2 Clinical application of ctDNA detection in cancer patients and expected DNA levels at different stages of the disease (Source: [1])
To ensure patients receive the best treatment, doctors need to analyze tumors at the molecular level. However, current approaches have limitations, for example, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) compliance and validation are difficult to achieve, and existing software workflows remain a bottleneck. In addition, biopsy sampling is difficult to achieve for up to one-third of lung cancer patients, which can prevent patients from receiving treatment for their specific tumor. And these are the problems Hedera Dx liquid biopsy solutions aim to overcome.
Hedera Dx liquid biopsy solutions radically simplify the process of finding the right regulatory approved therapy for each cancer patient, enabling hospital laboratories to perform clinically feasible in-house Liquid biopsy. Hedera DX’s liquid biopsy test isolates circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from a patient’s blood, which is then sequenced to obtain information about the tumor, analyze tumor status and response to various treatments. Hedera DX uses machine learning to compare this information with a database of EMA-approved therapies, generating a report that doctors and patients can use to make informed decisions about what drugs to use.
Figure 3 Hedera DX liquid biopsy solution (Source: Hedera DX official website)
The clinical use of liquid biopsies is limited due to the many obstacles that hospital laboratories face. Hedera Dx will provide an end-to-end software portfolio of in-house laboratory testing and IVD medical device Hedera Prime, overcoming all barriers with a seamless solution. After sample collection, laboratories can begin liquid biopsy using Laboratory Analysis and Hedera Prime software, streamlining the workflow with analysis, reporting and treatment options.
Top Harvest Capital founder Adam Ghobarah said: “We are very impressed with the vision of the Hedera Dx team to introduce a global liquid biopsy testing platform. This platform will ultimately save lives in the long run.The use of liquid biopsy testing in early detection, treatment selection, and recurrence monitoring is critical to advancing cancer care. Hedera Dx will play a key role in bringing ML-based diagnostics to mainstream clinical care at scale.”< /p>
As a major cancer country, China has a huge market for early tumor screening
China has the highest number of cancer incidence and deaths in the world, accounting for one-third of the world’s cancer deaths each year. With the environmental pollution brought about by economic development, the increasing aging, and the influence of factors such as smoking, microbial infection, obesity, decreased exercise, and irregular work and rest, the number of cancer cases in my country is increasing year by year, and the situation is becoming more and more serious. Cancer brings great physical and mental pain to patients, but also brings a great economic burden to the patient’s family and society.
According to the latest global cancer burden data released by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2020:In 2020, there were 4.57 million new cancer cases in China, and about With 3 million cases, China ranks first in the world in terms of new cancer cases and deaths. Among the cancer cases, the top ten new cancer types accounted for 78% (Figure 4), and more than 70% of the tumor patients needed chemoradiotherapy at different stages, and the cost of radiotherapy was 1 -30,000 yuan/course, chemotherapy costs 18-127,000 yuan/year; targeted therapy and The cost of immunotherapy is expensive, and its annual cost is 146-438 thousand yuan/year and 183-548 thousand yuan per year (Figure 5).
Figure 4 The number of cancer patients in China in 2020 (10,000 people) (Data source: IARC, source: Biodiscovery editorial team)
Figure 5 Tumor treatment costs in 2020 (10,000 yuan) (Source: Bio-Exploration Editing Team)
According to Sullivan’s data, in terms of the early tumor screening market, the target group of the Chinese market is the high-risk group who can afford the cost of early screening, and the age group is usually 50-75 years old. between. Based on this calculation, the potential size of China’s early tumor screening market is expected to grow from US$18.4 billion in 2019 to US$28.9 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.2% (Figure 6, Figure 7).
Figure 6 Market size of early tumor screening in China (Source: Sullivan Data, Bio-Exploration Editorial Team)
Figure 7 Market size of early cancer screening in China (Source: Sullivan Data, Bio-Exploration editorial team)
Compared with the recognition of cancer treatment equipment and anti-cancer drugs, the penetration rate and recognition rate of early cancer screening products and services in China are relatively low. Compared with developed countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the United States, China’s early diagnosis rate of cancer is much lower. The latest data shows that China’s early diagnosis rate is only 10% to 20%.
On February 18, 2021, China’s first cancer early screening company was born: Nuohui Health was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The recognition of Novi Health by the capital market reflects the huge prospects of the early cancer screening market. Not only Nuohui, but also all players in the cancer early screening market are actively expanding their market teams and exploring commercialization paths. For example, Genetron Health’s early liver cancer screening product, HCCscreen, has been commercialized in three paths: hospitals, governments, and medical examination institutions. It is believed that with the deepening of market education, technological innovation driving prices down, and favorable policies, the cancer early screening market will further mature.
Writing|Writing Competition
Typesetting|Feng Lixiao
References:
[1]Pascual J, Attard G, Bidard FC, et al. ESMO recommendations on the use of circulating tumor DNA assays for patients with cancer: a report from the ESMO Precision Medicine Working Group. Ann Oncol. 2022 Aug;33(8):750-768. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2022.05.520. Epub 2022 Jul 6. PMID: 35809752.
[2]https:https://www.hederadx.com/#about-section
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