Clinical validation of a new diagnostic test for Drug SEnsitivity Evaluation in ColoRectal Cancer (DSEE-CRC)

Currently, cancer treatment relies on poorly personalized drug therapies. About 80% of patients with advanced cancer are treated with chemotherapy, often to no avail, and drug and treatment costs continue to rise. These factors result in low quality of life for patients and high costs for healthcare providers. Current precision cancer medicine solutions, including DNA sequencing, are currently unable to predict response to mainstay chemotherapies. Functional cell-based screening may address this serious short-coming, but evidence for clinical benefit and cost-effectiveness is lacking. Oncosyne is developing an in vitro platform to improve oncological therapeutic decision making. Our solution identifies the best chemotherapy or targeted drug (single drug or drug combination) from a pharmacological screen in lab-grown, patient-derived microtumors, delivering a personalized diagnostic report. Our first target disease, metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), counts yearly 2 million patients, and healthcare costs can exceed €150k per patient per year. Our solution will directly improve patient outcomes and reduce treatment costs. The proposed Eurostars project, Drug SEnsitivity Evaluation-CRC (DSEE-CRC) will run for 36 months and join Oncosyne’s (project leader) expertise with Swedish clinical trial specialists CTC and a premier hospital in mCRC treatment (Ahus). This Eurostars project will enable Oncosyne to finalize R&D activities and perform the necessary clinical validation prior to market entry. Project activities include clinical studies (feasibility and clinical validation/performance), benchmarking of our solution against the standard of care. DSEE-CRC will provide data for market entry whilst building traction with future customers.