Traders may want to take a look at OncoCyte Corp. (NYSE American: OCX) Tuesday morning after the Alameda, California-based maker of cancer detection tests delivered news after Monday’s closing bell that has shares roaring ahead nearly 60 percent to $4.80 after closing the regular session at $3.05. At 4:10 PM in New York, OncoCyte said the latest data from a study evaluating its lung cancer diagnostic blood test, coined DetermaVu™, produced “encouraging results.”
Previous research on DetermaVu™ has been inconsistent, but the company believes that this latest batch of data supports advancing the test to a leading clinical diagnostic testing platform, which should remove any doubt about volatility in data. Utilizing Next Generation Sequencing platforms could increase DetermaVu™ performance, according to OncoCyte.
Furthermore, OncoCyte noted that the latest study used enhanced algorithms with a combination of the best performing new and old biomarkers, which improved accuracy. The tests ran efficiently on both platforms evaluated, the Illumina Nova Seq 6000 and Thermo Fisher Shef-S5.
OncoCyte management was careful to note that the sample size for the study was still small and must be validated via a larger sample size. More studies will also help OncoCyte in selecting the optimal set of biomarkers and solidifying their confidence in the diagnostic test.
Echoing this sentiment, Lyndal Hesterberg, SVP of R&D at OncoCyte said, “The study results are very encouraging. Although further studies testing larger numbers of samples are necessary, it appears the addition of the new biomarkers in DetermaVu™ may enhance the accuracy of our diagnostic test.”
Going forward, OncoCyte intends to run a blinded, 250-patient study called a R&D Validation Study. If things go as planned, an Analytical Validation Study will be conducted, followed by a Clinical Validation Study, with the goal of one day possibly penetrating the $4.7 billion U.S. market for confirmatory lung cancer biopsy tests.
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