Lucid Diagnostics, a medical diagnostics company specializing in cancer prevention, has announced the launch of the next generation of its EsoGuard Esophageal DNA test. This advanced test is designed for the detection of esophageal precancer and has shown improved assay performance and reduced costs in validation studies. The EsoGuard 2.0 assay, now used for all commercial and research samples at LucidDx Labs, represents a significant advancement over the previous version. Dr. Lishan Aklog, Lucid’s Chairman & CEO, highlighted the meticulous R&D work led by Chief Scientific Officer Suman Verma, MD, PhD, and her team in developing EsoGuard 2.0. The original…
Author: Harshal Chaudhari
Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and Aalborg University in Copenhagen have made a significant breakthrough in the early detection of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Their study, published in Cell Reports Medicine, reveals that blood tests can detect changes in the body up to eight years before a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and up to three years before a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. The study utilized electronic health records from Denmark, comparing data from 20,000 people with an IBD diagnosis against 4.6 million controls without IBD. The researchers observed changes in various blood…
In a significant development for colorectal cancer treatment, Takeda has successfully obtained FDA approval for Fruzaqla, a VEGF inhibitor, as a third-line treatment for adults with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This approval comes five years after Hutchmed’s fruquintinib, the drug’s original form, was first approved in China, marking it as the first domestically developed drug for a major cancer type in the country. Takeda acquired the rights to fruquintinib outside of China in January, paying Hutchmed $400 million upfront with an additional potential of $730 million in milestone payments. Fruzaqla is intended for patients who have undergone chemotherapy, anti-VEGF treatment,…
Two innovative treatment regimens have shown promising results in patients with gastroesophageal cancers, as presented in a recent ASCO Plenary Series session. These findings are significant as they did not reveal any new adverse events associated with the investigational approaches. EDGE-Gastric Study The first study, known as the EDGE-Gastric study, involved a combination of anti-PD-1 inhibitors with chemotherapy, which is now the standard of care for first-line gastroesophageal cancers. However, long-term outcomes remain poor. The study included 41 patients with untreated gastric, gastroesophageal junction, or esophageal adenocarcinoma. They were treated with domvanalimab, zimberelimab, and standard-dose FOLFOX. The primary outcomes were…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently published a set of important regulatory considerations for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. The publication aims to guide governments and authorities in developing or adapting AI guidelines at national or regional levels. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, acknowledges the promising potential of AI in medicine, but also warns of risks such as unethical data collection, cyberattacks, and malfunctions. The WHO publication comes at a crucial time when health data collection is at an all-time high, and cloud technology is making this data more accessible. AI technologies, including machine…
A recent peer-reviewed study published in Nature Communications introduces MSIntuit™ CRC, an innovative AI-driven digital pathology diagnostic tool developed by Owkin, a French-American techbio company. This tool is designed as a pre-screening aid to enhance the accuracy of diagnosing and treating colorectal cancer, which is the third most common cancer globally and the second leading cause of cancer mortality. The tool focuses on Microsatellite Instability (MSI), a crucial genomic biomarker in colorectal cancer, representing about 15% of the overall CRC population. MSI testing is increasingly important due to its prognostic and therapeutic significance, particularly with the recent approval of immune…
Mainz Biomed, a German cancer diagnostic firm, has partnered with Liquid Biosciences to use their artificial intelligence platform, Emerge, for analyzing clinical study results of its colorectal cancer test, ColoAlert. This collaboration will focus on analyzing data from Mainz’s EAArly Detect study in the US and the upcoming ReconAAsense trial for FDA premarket approval. The aim is to develop a fixed machine learning-based algorithm with Emerge, enhancing ColoAlert’s capabilities and paving the way for a next-generation colorectal cancer screening tool. ColoAlert, a noninvasive test that detects tumor DNA using PCR technology, is already available in multiple European countries.
Many physicians are seriously considering their practical options for a career that has nothing to do with clinical work. Perhaps they feel unable to care for patients the way they want to in the current US healthcare system. Perhaps they feel burned out or simply want to work fewer hours. But around 1 in 4 of them is pondering a career change. In Medscape’s 2021 report, 22% of respondents were thinking of pursuing a nonclinical career. Another recent survey saw similar results, with a Massachusetts Medical Society poll finding that 1 in 4 respondents planned to leave medicine within 2…
The American Gastroenterological Association and the American College of Gastroenterology recently signaled their support for whole-person multidisciplinary digestive healthcare delivered via a hybrid collaborative model offered by the virtual GI care clinic Oshi Health. The investment in Oshi Health by these GI specialty societies is aimed at helping gastroenterologists provide guideline-recommended dietary and behavioral health services, without placing additional burdens on practices. Oshi Health, launched in 2020, uses evidence-based, high-touch protocols that are clinically validated and recommended by the ACG and AGA, said company co-founder and Chief Medical Officer Sameer K. Berry, MD, MBA, a gastroenterologist and clinical assistant professor…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized a 3.4 percent cut to physician Medicare payments for the upcoming year. This marks the second consecutive year of declining reimbursement rates for physicians. The cuts are part of the final Physician Fee Schedule, which details policy and reimbursement rates for the year. Physician groups have begun lobbying Congress for a short-term fix immediately after the rule was announced. The Medical Group Management Association, for instance, has called for legislative action to stop the downward spiral in the Medicare program. The CMS proposed a conversion factor of $32.74, which is…