$599 Petco canine cancer test announces its scientific validation one year after press release, marketing campaign
California-based PetDx, owner of OncoK9 – “the liquid biopsy test for dogs -” has announced that there is now science to support the test it launched with Petco about one year ago, indeed, before the science was there. We’ll have more in the coming week, including reaction to the study from veterinarians. Presumably, the implications are significant. As always, TCR will cast a wide net for the most authoritative sources, including veterinary oncologists outside of PetDx, without the conflicts of interests, and leave it to you, the readers, to decide what to make of OncoK9. We will also ask Petco if there is any update on how the test is being priced. If anyone reading this is a Petco frequent flyer, we would appreciate it if you could make a price inquiry and report back to emily@thecaninereview.com.
Overall, the liquid biopsy test demonstrated a 54.7% (95% CI: 49.3–60.0%) sensitivity and a 98.5% (95% CI: 97.0–99.3%) specificity. For three of the most aggressive canine cancers (lymphoma, hemangiosarcoma, osteosarcoma), the detection rate was 85.4% (95% CI: 78.4–90.9%); and for eight of the most common canine cancers (lymphoma, hemangiosarcoma, osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, mast cell tumor, mammary gland carcinoma, anal sac adenocarcinoma, malignant melanoma), the detection rate was 61.9% (95% CI: 55.3–68.1%). The test detected cancer signal in patients representing 30 distinct cancer types and provided a Cancer Signal Origin prediction for a subset of patients with hematological malignancies. Furthermore, the test accurately detected cancer signal in four presumably cancer-free subjects before the onset of clinical signs, further supporting the utility of liquid biopsy as an early detection test. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that NGS-based liquid biopsy can offer a novel option for noninvasive multi-cancer detection in dogs.
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