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MDx/CDx Focus: Weill Cornell, OncoCyte Ink Lung Cancer Deal; Strand Services Indian Cancer Network

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OncoCyte and Weill Cornell Medical College announced this week that they will work together to analyze blood samples from healthy subjects and lung cancer patients using OncoCyte's molecular diagnostics.

The analysis will be performed using OncoCyte's PanC-Dx, a blood-based test that gauges the expression of various molecular markers in different cancers, including breast, lung, bladder, uterus, stomach, and colon. OncoCyte, a subsidiary of BioTime, began developing the platform at the end of 2012, and has been steadily conducting studies to validate it as a tool that can detect the onset of different malignancies.

The latest collaboration with Weill Cornell, combined with another study being performed by OncoCyte and The Wistar Institute, will yield data on the test involving 700 lung cancer patients. These studies will help OncoCyte develop a multi-marker test for lung cancer detection, the company said in a statement.

Early last year, OncoCyte announced plans to study and validate PanC-Dx as a routine blood test that may be performed “in women of any age at any desired frequency to detect breast cancer with as much if not better accuracy and with less cost than a conventional mammogram.”

Under the terms of its deal with Weill Cornell,, OncoCyte maintains all lung cancer diagnostic commercialization rights.


Strand Genomics has announced it will provide genomics analysis services to Health Care Global, a cancer network in India that serves more than 100,000 new patients each year.

Strand Genomics' Strand-Triesta Center for Cancer Genomics provides services, such as analysis of saliva DNA, molecular tumor profiling, and personalized treatment and clinical trial recommendations . Through Strand, HCG can access next-generation sequencing technologies, as well as the proprietary StrandOmics platform.

Using these services, HCG is hoping to provide physicians information about the actionable mutations driving their patients' cancers, and enable personalized care.

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