Epic Sciences unveils new, more sensitive biopsy test to detect a range of cancers

San Diego's Epic Sciences has added a new liquid biopsy test to its arsenal of biopharma cancer detection tools that targets homologous recombination deficiencies (HRDs) in individual circulating tumor cells.

Epic, along with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, recently presented data that suggested the new test can detect a tumor cell's HRD status based solely on analysis of protein expression and cellular morphology, independent of genomic sequencing. Using an imaging-based screening test would significantly reduce costs and identify patients within one week of a blood draw. In comparison, next-generation sequencing tests can take up to 5 weeks to be completed, which could delay crucial treatment decisions.

"Remarkably, utilizing this non-invasive blood test, we found that 30% of a cohort of 196 advanced prostate cancer patients harbored CTCs with the HRD biomarker," Ryan Dittamore, an Epic vice president, said in a statement. "That is double the incidence as described through traditional genomic approaches."

The liquid HRD test has already been introduced into some HRD-focused clinical studies, the company said. Currently, there are more than 230 clinical trials looking at novel therapies targeting DNA damage response pathways, including PARP, ATM, ATR, DNA-PK and WEE-1, the company said.

Although drugs designed to target those pathways have been effective for a broad spectrum of cancers, detecting patients with HRD-positive metastatic disease has been tricky because of tumor heterogeneity, the invasive nature of tissue biopsies in late stage patients and the expense and delays involved with genomic testing that often impairs patient enrollment.

Epic has entered into a wide variety of partnerships to expand the reach of its CTC technology in recent years. Last July, it announced it would team up with diagnostics luminary LabCorp ($LH) to make its tests available for European clinical trials. Other partnerships include biopharma heavyweights such as Genentech, Celgene ($CELG) and Pfizer ($PFE) to expand the reach for its CTC technology. Epic has worked with at least 26 pharma companies on clinical trials and counts the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health as partners.