Outer Space & Inner Space: A Potentially Game-Changing New Cancer Test Has Just Arrived

When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft sent back the first high-resolution outer space views of Pluto in 2015, they were the most remarkably vivid close-ups of the "dwarf planet" that humans had ever seen. NASA scientists and then the rest of the world were stunned by the breathtaking, high-resolution photos.

Meanwhile, in inner space (the human body), cancer scientists, too, are seeing things they have never seen before and working in an equally vast and mysterious universe that they are just beginning to comprehend. 

On that note, I participated in an enlightening interview this week with Dr. Rick Baehner, Chief Medical Officer, Precision Oncology at Exact Sciences. It's a dynamic cancer screening and diagnostic testing (liquid biopsy) company that I've been following for several years. 

He put it all in the proper perspective with an insightful and appropriately cosmic take. 

"Working with liquid biopsy technology is like looking at the horizon and seeing Pluto and its moon imagery," said Baehner, who was eager to talk about the company's breakthrough test and what it means for people with cancer. 

This week, the company turned its relevance in the cancer arena up yet another notch. My conversation with Baehner was a bit like speaking with astronomer/scientist/author Carl Sagan and physician/biologist/author Siddhartha Mukherjee at the same time. 

The conversation made me consider both outer space and the human body, which can feel just as ominously vast and unfamiliar.

But thanks to companies like Exact Sciences and scientists like Baehner, that is changing. And people with cancer are the beneficiaries of this change.

Cancer cells in the body

Exact Sciences has just launched a personalized cancer test that provides doctors with vitally important information needed to make important decisions about therapy based on the specific patient's cancer. 

"As diagnostic medicine continues to move forward," said Baehner, "the importance of having genetic information about a specific tumor becomes even more essential and will ultimately benefit the person who is taking the test."

The OncoExTra therapy selection test was announced this week in the United States. 

OncoExTra is a next-generation sequencing (NGS), comprehensive DNA and RNA based genomic test that provides physicians and their patients with a complete molecular picture of the patient's cancer. 

The test provides reliable and actionable results personalized to each patient. Remember that word: Personalization. It is the future of cancer medicine, and ideally all medicine. 

"The OncoExTra test substantially enhances our ability to characterize and understand solid cancer tumors, giving out patients the best chance at treating their cancer successfully," said Stephen Gruber, MD, PhD, MPH, vice president  of the City of Hope National Medical Center and Director, Center for Precision Medicine at City of Hope in a press statement this week.

"With this test, I have a much better picture of my patient's cancer, allowing me to prescribe the most effective treatment for their specific tumor," Gruber said. 

Personalized Cancer Treatment

As you read this, the majority of eligible cancer patients do not receive comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) to help understand their disease and guide treatment. 

Personalized medicine, powered by CGP, helps oncologists understand the unique biology of each patient's tumor and prescribe treatments  that offer the best outcomes. 

In a press statement this week, Kevin Conroy, chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences, said the company continues to build its leadership in cancer diagnostics by offering innovative tests addressing clinical needs at every step of a patient's cancer care.

"We are glad to add OncoExTra to our growing portfolio of cancer solutions across the cancer-care-care continuum, and deliver new levels of tumor-specific information and insights to doctors and patients that guide vital treatment decisions to achieve the best outcomes," Conroy said.

The OncoExTra test uses NGS to assess the tumor's RNA and DNA, providing actionable information to inform treatment decisions and uncover variants possibly missed by only evaluating DNA.

NGS is a method used to determine a portion of the nucleotide sequence of an individual's genome. 

 This technique utilizes DNA sequencing technologies that are capable of processing multiple DNA sequences in parallel. 

The test works by profiling the entire exome and the transcriptome across 20,000 genes. 

The “exome” consists of all the genome's exons, which are the coding portions of genes. The "transcriptome" is simply the sum total of all the messenger RNA molecules expressed from the genes of an organism.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has updated its guidelines to recommend FNA-based fusion testing for patients with no actionable information provided by a standard  DNA, multigene panel test.

Medicare covers the OncoExTra test. And doctors can order the test for all advanced solid tumors.

Bottom line

Cancer scientists are now discovering remarkable, game-changing things related to cancer in the human body that they have never seen or identified before simply because they did not have the tools to look. 

This is truly the golden age of cancer screening and treatment. Only 2o years ago, we knew very little about how cancer really works in the body. 

But scientists have learned more about cancer in the last ten years than they did in the previous century.  

For more information, visit precisiononcology.exactsciencves.com

 

Caris Life Sciences - Equal Amounts Innovation And Compassion

Dr. David Spetzler, President, Caris

It's important when covering new cancer innovations to steer clear of hyperbole. The bar for the Next Big Thing in cancer must remain high. I'm not interested in providing false hope. But some things are hard to overstate.

As we begin 2023, arguably the most promising breakthrough in cancer is the liquid biopsy. These are the blood assays you may have heard about that identify biomarkers in body fluids and give scientists valuable information about cancer. 

These tests are far less invasive than traditional screening, but are often more informative than most current screening tests. 

Liquid biopsies look for cancer cells from a tumor or small pieces of DNA, RNA, or other molecules released by tumor cells into a person’s body fluids.  

These assays can identify cancer in the body at very early stages, help physicians decide which treatment will work best, identify new targets in the blood that can conceivably lead to new treatments, and more.

Liquid biopsies allow multiple samples to be taken over time, which can help doctors understand what kind of genetic or molecular changes are taking place in a tumor. 

It's fair to expect that in medicine, 2023 will be The Year of the Liquid Biopsy. These technologies have come of age. Yes, more work needs to be done in the lab to hone and advance this technology. But the potential is vast. 

Liquid biopsies bring the promise of a new paradigm for cancer detection, treatment, recurrence and even cure. At my last count, there were more than 150 viable liquid biopsy and early cancer detection companies now doing business. 

What Makes Caris Life Sciences Unique?

Among the new leaders in the liquid biopsy space is Caris Life Sciences, a patient-focused company that has remained somewhat under the radar as it builds its impressive foundation of liquid biopsy as well as tissue-based work. 

Caris, whose ascension has been deliberate and effective, is revolutionizing precision medicine by providing physicians and patients with the highest quality information about their health. 

The goal is to develop new targets for a variety of cancers and partner with pharmaceutical companies to move these drugs into the market.

What makes Caris unique? The company provides cancer patients and oncologists with reliable, high-quality, comprehensive molecular information. 

Because of all the other advances that we have seen in recent years, knowing what cancer looks like at the molecular level can now lead to better treatment options for people with cancer. 

Cancer treatments have advanced dramatically over just the last decade, and it's increasingly important to understand the molecular features of a cancer when the diagnosis is made so oncologists can create a personalized treatment plan. 

Regardless of where a tumor is located, its molecular composition tells docs a lot about how the cancer may behave and what treatments may be most effective.

Caris was the first to provide Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing (WTS) for every person with cancer. All molecular profiling orders include next-generation sequencing of all 22,000 genes.  

This gives Caris an edge in terms of collecting targets that can actually lead to new treatments. 

Big Announcement Today

And on that note, Caris today announced a new multi-year strategic option and license agreement with Xencor, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, to apply Caris Discovery to identify novel targets for bispecific antibody drug candidates. 

Bispecific antibodies are simply a type of antibody that can bind to two different antigens at the same time. 

Antigens are basically any substance that causes the body to initiate an immune response against that substance. 

Antigens include toxins, chemicals, bacteria, viruses, or other substances that come from outside the body. Body tissues and cells, including cancer cells, also have antigens on them that can cause an immune response.

Bispecific antibodies, which are made in the lab, are being studied in the imaging and treatment of a variety of cancers, including blood cancers. 

I've been covering bispecific antibodies for the last several years as a journalist, author and cancer patient advocate. They took center stage at the annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting last month. 

The partnership will put these two companies on the front lines of precision cancer drug development. 

It's easy to feel optimistic about this. It shows that liquid biopsies will indeed be an integral part of the cancer treatment landscape moving forward. 

Strong Leadership, Bright Future

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with the leadership at Caris. It was a fascinating conversation. They explained to me that what the company is focusing on is people with cancer who have either bad treatment options or none. 

The company's novel approach leverages the aggregate strength of its platform to unlock previously inaccessible drug targets in oncology. 

"Despite numerous breakthroughs in the cancer research sector, discovering new cancer medicines remains intensely challenging and one of the biggest stumbling blocks is the scarcity of viable targets," said David Spetzler, M.S., Ph.D, MBA, president and chief scientific officer of Caris. 

"Building on our strength in molecular profiling, an unparalleled repository of real-world samples and industry-leading clinico-genomic database, the company has spent years investing in the formation of Caris Discovery, a platform to identify and validate targets for cancer development," Spetzler said.

Milan Radovich, Ph.D, senior vice president and chief precision medicine officer at Caris, said that historically the vast majority of potential drug targets were considered undruggable, which simply means a protein that is not pharmacologically capable of being targeted.

"But with the proliferation of new therapeutic modalities, the universe of targets for cancer medicines has vastly expanded," said Radovich, who added that these targets will lead to novel medicines that transform patient care. 

Through tireless efforts, breakthrough molecular science and a passionate commitment to quality, Caris is clearly on an impressive track. They are moving forward.