Life Technologies Corporation has announced the launch of Pervenio Lung RS. This molecular test has been documented to reliably identify early stage lung cancer patients who are at high risk for mortality following surgery. It also fulfills a need for prognostic information to guide preventative treatment and improve disease management.
Lung cancer patients face a 25% to 65% mortality rate even after successful surgery, primarily because the disease often spreads early. Current methods for lung cancer staging are not effective for identifying those patients who likely harbor undetected metastases. Early stage patients who are thought to be at low risk are typically prescribed a course of monitoring following surgery, an approach frequently called “watchful waiting.” Disease recurs, however, in a large percentage of these patients, usually at distant sites, indicating that the patient harbored metastases that were not detected at the time of surgery. Also, by the time disease recurs, treatment by chemotherapy or other therapies very rarely achieves long-term survival.
Developed by Pinpoint Genomics, which Life Technologies acquired in July, and based on technology licensed from the University of California, San Francisco, Pervenio Lung RS consists of a quantitative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assay measuring expression of a proprietary 14-gene panel using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor specimens. The prognostic genes are related to known molecular lung cancer pathways, such as KRAS, BRAF, EGFR, HER2, ALK, and p53. Read a summary of a research study published in The Lancet that demonstrates the test’s clinical validity.
