Press Release.
Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company focused on oncology, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Supervision (FDA) has cleared its Pathwork(R) Tissue of Genesis Test concerning purchase in determining the origin of debatable tumors.
The assess analyzes a tumor’s gene wording diagram to help pinpoint the beginning of insensitive-to-relate to tumors and is the first test of its kind to walk off FDA clearance. Up to an estimated 200,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients annually in the U.S. may have a tumor for which the site of origin is uncertain after the initial diagnostic workup. The FDA’s clearance underscores the growing capacity that patients’ genomic information can drag one’s feet use in helping physicians make preferably decisions.
“Knowing the primary tumor plat with greater certainty enables more appropriate cancer treatment. The growing style in cancer nurse is the fritter away of therapies that target specific tissues and their genomic components, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all treatment approach,”
said Deborah J. Neff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pathwork Diagnostics.
“We believe the Pathwork Tissue of Creation Check up on will help purvey more certainty in tumor diagnosis, which will enable more patients to realize the benefits of this experimental times in genomics-based diagnostics.”
The FDA-cleared Pathwork Tissue of Commencement Test will be present as an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) kit, message that clinical laboratories can run the evaluate themselves. The test is currently within reach as a service through Pathwork’s CLIA-certified laboratory.
The Pathwork Tissue of Origin Prove uses a microarray to measure the expression pattern, comprising more than 1,500 genes, in the indecisive tumor and compares it to expression patterns of a panel of 15 known tumor types, representing 60 morphologies blanket, to help shape the tumor’s origin. In the in vitro diagnostics clinical validation study submitted to the FDA, the test demonstrated 89 percent auspicious agreement (akin to sensitivity) with close by diagnoses and 99 percent cool agreement (akin to specificity). The cram consisted of 545 metastatic, poorly differentiated and undifferentiated tumors that had been identified as sole of the 15 tumor types on the panel using existing methods. The assay demonstrated an as a rule 94 percent overall concordance across four laboratories in a cross-laboratory comparison scrutiny of 60 metastatic, inadequately differentiated and undifferentiated tissue specimens.
“Hard-to-identify tumors are a significant clinical problem,”
said Dr. James Abbruzzese, Professor of Medicine at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
“They are time-consuming and frustrating in requital for both physicians and patients. Accurately identifying a tumor’s origin — and ergo knowing what thoughtful of cancer the tenacious has — is necessary seeking dawn standard-of-care, cancer-proper to treatment per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines. Knowing the tumor’s origin can also enable patients to get into — and benefit from — appropriate clinical trials.”
Targeted cancer therapies can be clobber even with metastatic tumors and are typically tumor-specific (e.g., Herceptin® for breast cancer), requiring identification of the primary tumor purlieus or tissue of origination. Targeting therapy to clear-cut tumor types can allow patients to avoid the toxicity of broader chemotherapy.
“Traditional tools inured to to identify tumors of inconstant origin include imaging studies, such as CT scans and MRIs, as well as a thorough pathological appraisal with immunohistochemistry and other techniques,”
said Federico Monzon, M.D., Director of Molecular Diagnostics of The Methodist Hospital in Houston.
“However, seeking difficult cases the use of these complex iterative techniques can often chronicle b debase weeks, and in some cases they smooth do not definitively identify the tissue of origin. A gene expression probe of a piece with the Pathwork Tissue of Derivation Check provides unrivalled facts and, based on this text, it is reasoned to expect that it will promote the diagnosis of uncertain primary tumors.”
Pathwork Diagnostics
Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California, develops and commercializes high-value molecular diagnostics with a view oncology. The firm delivers FDA-cleared, microarray- ased tests to clinical laboratories and also provides diagnostic tests through its CLIA-certified laboratory. The company’s initial tests utilize Pathwork Diagnostics’ proprietary analytics and a companion Pathchip(R) microarray, which runs on the proven Affymetrix GeneChip(R) System. The company’s start test — the Pathwork Tissue of Fountain-head Study — is now FDA-cleared as an in vitro diagnostic kit. A functionally equivalent understanding of the check up on is also present through Pathwork(R) Diagnostics Laboratory. The test aids in determining a tumor’s origin so that model-of-care, cancer-specific treatment can set out.
