Positive outcomes following the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) review of Oncimmune Holdings (LON:ONC) EarlyCDT Lung diagnostic test, provides clear external validation for its incorporation into care pathways, and carries weight in terms of aiding potential-decision making to support its adoption. The conclusions contained in NICE’s newly published Medtech Innovation Briefing (MIB) provide advice that will be available to all NHS England clinicians, managers and procurement professionals. Oncimmune’s EarlyCDT Lung measures immune cells (autoantibodies) by means of a single blood test to detect cancer 4 years or more earlier than standard clinical diagnosis.
- NICE has delivered a positive assessment of EarlyCDT Lung as an adjunct to standard diagnostic methods to enable healthcare professionals to triage high risk lung cancer patients. Conclusions delivered in the MIB also include that EarlyCDT Lung is an effective method for cancer risk stratification of indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs) including prior to standard CT scanning.
- These conclusions are supported by broad evidence, including from studies in over 15,000 patients, that EarlyCDT Lung is an effective tool capable of diagnosing lung cancer earlier than standard methods. They provide validation within the NHS itself to help improve decision-making, and risk assessment, potentially to achieve a better standard of patient care, and more efficient use of resources. These are all factors that can help add weight to the argument for adoption of EarlyCDT Lung within NHS England. For example, since EarlyCDT Lung is an effective ‘rule in’ test, it can help channel better use of resources by reducing the number of false positives which are incorrectly recommended for ongoing CT monitoring.
- The scale of unmet need is extensive; in the UK there are at least 48,000 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed each year and over 35,000 deaths (source: Cancer Research UK). The limitations of current diagnostic methods mean that patients are not usually diagnosed until the late stages and consequently the average 5-year lung cancer survival rate is just 5%, compared to over 56% at early diagnosis. EarlyCDT Lung detects cancer 4 years or more earlier than standard clinical diagnosis, providing the potential to treat patients more promptly and effectively. Oncimmune is working to maximise the commercial potential of EarlyCDT Lung in parallel with the NHS to promote its broader adoption.
- The delivery of the positive MIB is another key stepping-stone for Oncimmune providing powerful validation of EarlyCDT Lung. More broadly the Company is working to maximise the geographic scale and reach of its technology by delivering on its commercial, operational and technical objectives. Near term news includes publication of health economic data and clinical data in a leading medical journal to corroborate the positive NICE review, supporting EarlyCDT Lung’s position in global markets.
