Blood Test Offers Hope For Lung Cancer Patients

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A new blood test will help US doctors determine the best treatment options for lung cancer patients who can’t be operated on.

The test, developed by Israeli company OncoHost, scans approximately 7,000 proteins in a patient’s blood plasma to deliver a report that predicts their clinical benefit from immunotherapy-based treatment.

Immunotherapy treatments, which use substances made by the body’s immune system to combat cancer, don’t generally work on lung cancer patients because they produce high amounts of the PVR protein, which makes the treatment ineffective. The blood test will help determine the best treatment options for them.

Its algorithm was developed during OncoHost’s ongoing clinical trial, which has predicted the best treatment plans for 1,500 patients thus far.

“We are thrilled to be launching the PROphet NSCLC (non-small lung cancer) test, offering a predictive biomarker to guide treatment planning for this large subset of patients,” said Chris Dingman, OncoHost’s chief commercial officer.

“Access to our test will have a significant impact on patient care and treatment protocols. The PROphet report will guide physicians’ treatment decisions by offering personalized insights on the predicted clinical benefit of immunotherapy.

“Combining these findings with the patients’ PD-L1 (proteins that cancer cells use to hide from the immune system) level will allow them to offer the most effective plan and avoid unnecessary treatments.”

OncoHost is based in Binyamina, northern Israel, and was founded in 2017.