Clinical trial initiated to assess the potential of FAIMS (Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometer) technology in the early detection of colorectal cancer.- Owlstone Medical

Owlstone Medical has initiated a 1,400 patient clinical trial assessing the potential of its FAIMS (Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometer) technology in the early detection of colorectal cancer, which it claims to be the world's largest breath-based study into the disease.

The InTERCEPT trial aims to evaluate the accuracy of Owlstone's non-invasive, high-compliance breath (and urine) test in diagnosing colorectal cancer at an early stage, in the hope of improving survival rates from the disease, which is the second most common cancer killer worldwide with 215,000 deaths every year. The trial - which is being run in collaboration with the University of Warwick and the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust with consultant gastroenterologist Professor Ramesh Arasaradnam as Principal Investigator - follows a successful pilot study using Owlstone's FAIMS platform technology, which showed sensitivity of 88 percent in detecting Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) biomarkers for the disease. It also showed sensitivity of 62 percent for detection of advanced adenomas, a pre-cancerous stage of colorectal cancer, representing a substantial increase in the rate of detection versus the faecal occult blood tests currently within the NHS bowel cancer screening programme.