VolitionRx’s blood test spots 80% of early colorectal cancers

A blood test developed by VolitionRx detects80% of stage 1 colorectal cancers in a screening study.

VolitionRx’s data come from an interim review of a study of more than 500 subjects in Denmark. Each of the asymptomatic participants in the study provided a blood sample for analysis. When VolitionRxanalyzed the test results alongside the age and smoking histories of the participants, it detected 80% of stage 1 colorectal cancer cases and 66% of precancerous, high-risk adenomas at 78% specificity.

Detecting colorectal cancer early sharply increases the likelihood of a person surviving for more than five years. Today, healthcare systems test stool samples for blood or DNA to screen patients for cancer. Cologuard, the DNA test, won FDA approval on the back of data showing it detected more than 90% of all colorectal cancer cases and almost as many cases of stage 1 disease.

Interim data on VolitionRx came in below that level. But VolitionRx’s detection of high-risk adenomas is very respectable, its test is still being improved and its reliance on blood samples, rather than stool samples, potentially gives it an edge in colorectal cancer screening.

Once VolitionRx has data from the trial it will step up work on a double-blind 12,000-subject study. The goal is to get that trial underway in the second half of the year. If all goes to plan, data from the trial will support product claims in Europe, where VolitionRx hopes to get CE marked this year. The company is also working to bring the test to market in the U.S.

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