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Swiss breast cancer startup announces VA research collaboration
Swiss startup OncoGenomX, a leader in predictive tumour analytics, has announced a new clinical trial collaboration with researchers of two US Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers.
The project will test OncoGenomX’s revolutionary clinical decision support platform PredictionStar™— created with the goal of making personalised precision cancer treatment a reality for all women living with breast cancer— within a hospital user environment.
It will focus on the treatment of early hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in patients eligible for post-operative therapy with Tamoxifen or a Non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor, and patients with metastatic hormone receptor-positive breast cancer eligible for therapy with Palbociclib (Pfizer), Alpelisib (Novartis), or Trastuzumab-Deruxtecan (AstraZeneca).
The results of the project, conducted with the VA Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory in Los Angeles and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in Cincinnati, promise to enrich OncoGenomX’s existing knowledge base with critical insights.
By analysing a comprehensive range of patient and tumour specific data—including clinical, biological, pathological, phenotypic, genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic— PredictionStar™ delivers a 360-degree characterisation of individual tumours. This enables clinicians to move beyond standard treatment protocols, which often result in over or under treatment, and instead make precise, evidence-based therapeutic decisions.
According to OncoGenomX’s research, 56% of women living with metastatic breast cancer are at risk of receiving suboptimal treatment compositions, leading to clinical outcomes falling short of the potential of modern breast cancer treatments, and causing avoidable cancer care costs.
PredictionStar™ reduces the risk of such outcomes, lowering the over treatment rate by at least 40% from 56% to 16% or less, incurring a five-fold lower risk of cancer regrowth, and 40% lower therapy success costs.
The VA collaboration will allow OncoGenomX to optimise the PredictionStarTM support platform based on user experience, to identify the parameters critical for maximum system performance, accurate pre-therapy outcome predictions, and reliable treatment guidance.
The study will compare PredictionStar™’s projected outcomes with actual patient results, ensuring the technology is effective in clinical settings beyond controlled studies.
“We expect this collaboration to enrich our existing knowledgebase, which already includes over 4,500 breast cancer cases,” says CEO Wolfgang Hackl.
“Real-world validation is crucial for generalising our findings and ensuring they reflect the reality in diverse healthcare environments.”
Stressing the importance of this, Dr Bernard L. Kasten, Principal Investigator at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center, adds: “Current biomarkers lack the sensitivity needed for precise pre-treatment predictions. PredictionStar™ fills this gap by offering detailed, objective insights into tumour biology, leading to more effective and personalised treatments.”
The opportunity for OncoGenomX—recently named Most Innovative Oncology Software Company at the GHP Awards—is substantial.
The collaboration will open doors to complement the company’s knowledge base and extend its claims with real-world data, which is essential for establishing broader clinical and financial support.
This research is just one part of the company’s broader mission, Hackl explains: “Our goal is to establish the first PredictionStar™ laboratory and build a robust development alliance with industry partners, academic institutions, and healthcare payers. We are taking significant steps toward making PredictionStar™ the standard for breast cancer treatment and extending it to other types of cancer and biomedical applications.”
He adds: “Our overarching aim is to make precision treatment matching with PredictionStar™ the norm in breast cancer care, and stepwise extending its application to other cancers.”
Transdermal HRT best protects bone density in women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea, a condition that stops periods, a review of trials has found.
The meta-analysis pooled randomised clinical trials involving 692 participants and found transdermal hormone replacement therapy and teriparatide increased bone mineral density by between 2 and 13 per cent.
Functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea can follow anorexia or intense exercise. Bone mineral density measures bone strength and the amount of mineral in bone.
Around half of women with the condition have low bone mineral density, compared with about 1 per cent of healthy women, and their fracture risk is up to seven times higher.
The research was conducted by scientists at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Professor Alexander Comninos, senior author of the study and consultant endocrinologist at the trust, said: “Bone density is lost very rapidly in FHA and so addressing bone health early is very important to reduce the lifelong risk of fractures.
“Our study provides much needed comparisons of all the available treatments from all available studies.
“Clearly the best treatment is to restore normal menstrual cycles and therefore oestrogen levels through various psychological, nutritional or exercise interventions – but that is not always possible.
“The foundation for bone health is good calcium and vitamin D intake (through diet and/or supplements) but we have additional treatments that are more effective.”
When FHA is diagnosed, clinicians first try to restore periods through lifestyle measures, including psychological and dietary support, but these can fail. Guidelines then recommend giving oestrogen, though the best form was unclear.
The team reviewed all prior randomised trials comparing therapies, including oral and transdermal oestrogen, and also assessed teriparatide, a prescription bone-building drug used for severe osteoporosis.
They found no significant benefit for oral contraceptive pills or oral hormone therapy.
A recent UK audit reported that about a quarter of women with anorexia-related FHA are prescribed the oral contraceptive pill for bone loss; the study suggests using transdermal therapy instead.
Comninos said: “Our goal is simple: to help women receive the right treatment sooner and to protect their bone health in the long-term.
“We hope this study provides clinicians with better evidence to choose transdermal oestrogen when prescribing oestrogen and so inform future practice guidelines.
“Right now, millions of women with FHA may not be receiving the best treatments for their bone health.”
An AI tool cut interval breast cancers by 12 per cent in a Swedish screening trial of more than 105,000 women.
The study also found 27 per cent fewer aggressive breast cancers detected at screening when AI was used.
Interval cancers are cancers found between routine screening appointments because they were missed at the original scan. They are often more dangerous and linked to higher death rates than cancers found at screening.
The MASAI trial is described as the first large randomised study to test whether AI can improve mammography screening, which uses low-dose X-rays to examine breast tissue for signs of cancer.
The AI tool, called Transpara Detection and developed by ScreenPoint Medical, supported radiologists in analysing mammography images.
Earlier results from the same trial showed that Transpara Detection increased cancers found by 29 per cent and reduced radiologist workload by 44 per cent compared with standard double-reading, where two radiologists independently review each scan.
The latest findings indicate higher accuracy with AI support. Sensitivity, the ability to detect cancer, was 6.7 percentage points higher in the AI group while specificity, the ability to rule out healthy cases, was maintained. Results were similar across age groups and breast density levels.
Women screened with AI had 16 per cent fewer invasive interval cancers and 21 per cent fewer large interval cancers than those in the standard screening group.
The system also helps doctors assess risk more precisely by subdividing suspicious findings into BI-RADS 4 categories A, B and C. BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System) is a standardised scale that guides whether a patient needs closer monitoring, further tests or treatment.
Ageing anxiety may accelerate biological ageing in women, with fears about worsening health linked to faster epigenetic ageing, according to new research.
The study found that greater anxiety about growing old was associated with accelerated epigenetic ageing, as measured by the DunedinPACE clock, based on biological markers in blood samples.
Epigenetic changes are shifts in how genes are switched on or off without altering DNA itself, which can influence how the body ages and functions.
“Our research suggests that subjective experiences may be driving objective measures of ageing,” said Mariana Rodrigues, a PhD student and the first author of the study.
“Ageing-related anxiety is not merely a psychological concern, but may leave a mark on the body with real health consequences.”
Researchers analysed data from 726 women in the Midlife in the US study.
Participants were asked how much they worried about becoming less attractive with age, having more health issues and being too old to have children.
Blood samples were used to assess ageing with two epigenetic clocks: DunedinPACE, which estimates the pace of biological ageing, and GrimAge2, which estimates cumulative biological damage.
The study was conducted by researchers at NYU School of Global Public Health.
Worrying about declining health showed the strongest links with epigenetic ageing, while anxiety about attractiveness and fertility was not significantly associated with biological markers.
The authors suggest health worries are more common and persist over time, whereas concerns about appearance and reproduction may fade with age.
“Women in midlife may also be multiple in roles, including caring for their ageing parents,” Rodrigues said.
“As they see older family members grow older and become sick, they may worry about whether the same thing will happen to them.”
The authors caution that the study offers a snapshot in time and other factors may influence these biological changes.
When analyses were adjusted for health behaviours such as smoking and alcohol use, the link between ageing anxiety and epigenetic ageing decreased and was no longer significant.
“Our research identifies ageing anxiety as a measurable and modifiable psychological determinant that seems to be shaping ageing biology,” said Adolfo Cuevas, associate professor of social and behavioural sciences and the study’s senior author.
They call for more research to clarify how this anxiety influences ageing over time, to guide support for those experiencing ageing anxiety.
“Ageing is a universal experience.” Rodrigues said.
“We need to start a discourse about how we as a society, through our norms, structural factors and interpersonal relationships, address the challenges of ageing.”
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