Biocartis jumps after positive results on rapid-test for lung cancer patients

Biocartis NV

25/01/2022 08:32

** Shares in Biocartis  BCART.BR  jump around 5% after the
Belgian diagnostics company said a large UK study showed that
its rapid in-house PCR-based EGFR testing could improve survival
rates for lung cancer patients  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2U41QF
    ** CEO says routine reflex of pathologists is to request
Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) testing, which takes place at
an external, specialised lab and can as a result take much
longer than in-house EGFR testing with Idylla
    ** Study compared the average turnaround time to report EGFR
mutations with the Idylla PCR-based EGFR Mutation Test (3.8
days) with NGS testing by an external laboratory (17 days)
    ** Biocartis says 6% of patients died before the NGS report
was available, and of 17 patients whose condition deteriorated
rapidly, three were found to have an actionable variant in EGFR
that could have been treated with inhibitors
    ** It concludes that dual PCR and NGS testing could improve
care and survival outcomes, by providing access to the right
test at the right time
    ** Stock is on track for its best day since Dec. 1
    

 (Reporting by Sarah Morland)
 ((sarah.morland@tr.com
mailto:sarah.morland@thomsonreuters.com))