Santa Monica's Quantgene Uses Big Data to Solve the Cancer Riddle

Blood tests are not a new technology for cancer screening, but Santa Monica-based Quantgene is trying to create a more precise tool to identify cancer in its earliest stages by finding mutation patterns that point to the disease and in the process, lowers cancer death rates in the U.S. (an estimated 1.6 million people will get newly diagnosed with cancer this year with an estimated 600,000 deaths in 2020).

Traditionally most blood tests are used when doctors already know where the cancer exists, in order to track its progression. Rachel Uranga from dot.LA reports on the “liquid test” Quantgene has been developing “that can pinpoint the origin of multiple types of cancer by identifying their cellular mutations using artificial intelligence analytics and big data.”

Originally started at a U.C. Berkeley lab five years ago, Quantgene co-founders, Jo Bhakdi and Monika Hagen, sought to create a system that would screen cancer using algorithms. Later this year, and pending regulatory approval, Quantgene hopes to roll out an early cancer screening subscription plan to consumers for an annual cost of around $2,200. And they specifically relocated to Los Angeles to launch it.

“We asked the question, ‘What region has the most innovation-driven and future-oriented consumers and physicians and health care experts that are most likely to adopt new technologies?,’” Bhakdi said. “And what we found was very clear- Los Angeles.”

Bhakdi hopes that the move will allow Quantgene to demonstrate the product’s value and convince insurers to offer it, getting it into more of the population’s hands, while also bringing costs down.

You can read the full dot.LA article here.