Molecular testing firm Chronix Biomedical (Germany and San Jose, Calif.) has set out to change the face of cancer diagnostics on several fronts. Its Second Opinion line of tests is currently available in Europe to improve the accuracy of existing screening methods for prostate cancer and breast cancer. Additionally, the company is currently validating both a pan-cancer screening test, One Test, and an organ transplant rejection test, all based on the principles of utilizing circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) as an early sign of changing cellular dynamics in the body. DTET recently spoke with Howard Urnovitz, Ph.D., the CEO and co-founder of Chronix about the company’s plans to commercialize the tests in the United States. Your Second Opinion cfDNA-based tests initially target two common cancers— breast and prostate. Why target these cancers as an initial strategy? Chronix Biomedical chose to start with prostate and breast cancer because we saw the trend of negative reports about the current screening tests of PSA and mammograms. These two early screening tests both have low accuracy leading to many misdiagnoses. We believe by adding a blood genetic test to the screening protocol we can increase the accuracy of the current test practices and reverse the […]