Diaceutics flags serious fall in cancer testing amid Covid-19

The AIM-traded firm said the analysis, based on real-time data taken from its ‘data lake’, showed a “sharp downturn” in both biomarker testing and cancer diagnosis rates between February and March.

It said the figures, which had been tracked monthly since January 2019, provided an insight into the impact that Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown measures being implemented across the US were having on cancer patient care.

Diaceutics said it found that compared to February 2020, March saw a 31% drop in the number of patients being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Testing rates for related biomarkers also decreased, with reductions ranging between 7% for KRAS and 13% for EGFR.

With regard to EGFR, Diaceutics estimated that there were nearly 4,000 fewer tests performed in March alone, when compounding the reduced number of patients diagnosed and the reduction in testing rates.

The company said its Covid-19 oncology tracker also revealed a 14% drop in the number of new patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer during the same time period.

It said its insights showed that testing rates for biomarkers related to that form of cancer decreased as well, with BRAF down by 9%, while MSI/MMR was down by 8% and RAS was down by 6%.

In the hematological setting, there was a 14% drop in newly-diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia between February and March, with FLT3, IDH1 and IDH2 testing rates all dropping.

Diaceutics said it found that the number of newly-diagnosed breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients decreased by 8.4% and 8.6% respectively during the period.

The company said the information on which the findings were based was a representative dataset from its data lake, which includes community, commercial and academic laboratories.

Diaceutics defines newly-diagnosed cancer patients as those who had undergone a biopsy and surgical pathology testing, and had not been recorded in the company's database previously.

“These insights highlight the devastating impact that Covid-19 is having on cancer patients, from both a social distancing and healthcare system capacity viewpoint,” said chief commercial officer Jordan Clark.

“Our research shows that laboratories are receiving fewer samples and hospitals are performing fewer biopsies.

“In fact, one community hospital laboratory reported that molecular oncology testing had slumped by 25%.”

Clark said the downturn in rates varied across the different types of cancer, with lung cancer being the worst affected.

“We suspect that this is because Covid-19 is a respiratory disease, so the symptoms that patients would normally consult their doctor about are potentially being mistaken for the novel coronavirus.

“On the other hand, in the case of acute myeloid leukemia, patients tend to be very sick by the time of diagnosis and need to be immediately hospitalised, so these people are more likely to enter the healthcare setting despite the pandemic.”

The reality of the situation was that fewer people were going for regular screening, or attending medical appointments to get symptoms checked out, Clark explained.

In addition, he said the firm had seen social distancing and repurposing of lab resources to tackle Covid-19 testing impacting their ability to process oncology testing.

“This means that fewer people are getting diagnosed and therefore tested for specific biomarkers.

“Optimal companion diagnostic testing is vital for getting precision medicine therapies to as many patients as possible.”

Clark said the research showed that Covid-19 was having a “detrimental impact” on the already-fractured testing ecosystem, which meant that even more cancer patients were missing out on getting the treatment that was right for them at the right time.

“While this data relates to the US, the Covid-19 pandemic is a global issue so there is no doubt that the same trends are emerging elsewhere and that this decline will continue in the weeks to come.”

At 1536 BST, shares in Diaceutics were down 10.77% at 116p.