NEW YORK – Biological Dynamics said on Tuesday that it has partnered with Qure Healthcare and Curta to conduct clinical utility and health economic research on the company's pancreatic cancer early detection assay.
Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
The firm's technology is based on the isolation and downstream proteomic analysis of exosomes from blood. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has emerged as its first clinical target, and the company shared some early data last year showing that it could discriminate between cancers and healthy control samples with sensitivity of 71.2 percent at 99 percent specificity.
Under its agreements with Qure and Curta, Biological Dynamics is sponsoring two independent studies on how providers might use its early PDAC detection assay, as well as how the test performance and cost may impact downstream patient care and curative interventions.
"We must more fully understand the risks and benefits of early detection methods in all individuals including those at high risk for pancreatic cancer. These two studies will add important observations as we evolve to better management of disease risk and sensitive diagnoses," Biological Dynamics CEO and Director Paul Billings said in a statement.
Curta, a health technology modeling firm, will explore the health economic impact of Biological Dynamics' test from a US payor perspective. Qure, meanwhile, will investigate the impact of the assay on physician behavior using its patient simulation approach to mimic a randomized controlled trial.
John Peabody, president of Qure and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said that he and his colleagues are enrolling physicians for this trial now.