OncoCyte Corp (NYSE: OCX) shares jumped Tuesday following 'encouraging' results from study of DetermaVu blood test.
The Alameda, California-based OncoCyte, a developer of novel tests for early detection of cancer, today reported that DetermaVu™, its lung cancer diagnostic blood test, has produced encouraging results. This study supports moving the test to a leading clinical diagnostic testing platform and indicates that the clinical performance of the test may be better than was previously expected.
The move to a leading diagnostic testing platform is expected to resolve the inconsistent data issues OncoCyte encountered with the diagnostic testing platform it had previously used in the development of DetermaVu™. OncoCyte believes that the precision of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms may increase test performance.
In addition, the use of a NGS platform could allow for decentralized operations beyond OncoCyte’s CLIA lab, potentially enabling development of a CE marked kit product for distribution in Europe and other markets, if OncoCyte’s upcoming studies are successful.
"We are extremely pleased with the results of this study, which provide us with a new diagnostic testing platform and a route forward for the development of a next-generation DetermaVu," said CEO William Annett.
Next, OncoCyte will perform a prospective, blinded R&D Validation Study on approximately 250 patients to assess the performance of the algorithm in a blinded set of clinical samples. If successful, the R&D Validation Study will be followed by an Analytical Validation Study in the Company’s CLIA laboratory. Finally, OncoCyte plans to conduct a Clinical Validation Study to confirm test performance.
OncoCyte shares spiked 70 cents, or 23%, to $3.75 Tuesday.
