into the blood. We think that we can detect these before you notice that you have a problem, which means that we should be able to catch it early enough to do something about it.”
“
We need to get away from the idea that the only revenue the NHS can spend should come from direct government funding “It’s a high-tech blood test, so what we do is to measure thousands of these proteins in the blood and what we are looking for are signatures of proteins that would say, ‘if you have more of this modified protein and less of that one, that might mean prostate cancer’, while changes to the modifications of other proteins could mean you have got another kind of cancer. So, you can do multiple tests in one blood sample.” Despite attracting £7million in venture capital funding, and £3m
HEAD AND HEART: Biosignatures co-founder Will Dracup (inset) has proposed the creation of an Early Diagnostics Institute
Health benefits Giving the NHS proprietory ownership of technology that can achieve early diagnoses of cancers and dementia makes medical and financial sense, says IVOR CAMPBELL
O
ne of the most interesting developments in the past quarter was the news that a leading authority on human proteomics is seeking to establish a publicly owned foundation that will make the National Health Service a world leader in the development of blood tests to detect cancers. Will Dracup, co-founder of Biosignatures Ltd, proposed the creation of an Early Diagnostics Institute (EDI) that, he hopes, can build upon years of research and data collected by his former company. As well as having the potential to detect cancers earlier than is currently possible, he believes the proprietary technology could also achieve early diagnoses of a range of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s and other
forms of dementia. As mentioned elsewhere, in the autumn the NHS announced its participation in a major new clinical trial for a blood test that promises to detect more than fifty cancers early. The health service is partnering with Silicon Valley-based healthcare company Grail Inc in a randomised control trial involving up to 140,000 volunteers. The Galleri test will look at the DNA in each patient’s blood to determine if any comes from tumours, which shed cell-free nucleic acids (cfDNA), carrying signals specific to cancer. If successful it could lead to earlier diagnoses of cancers, with dramatically increased survival rates. Biosignatures Ltd was forced to halt its 12-year research programme, doing similar work, in 2020 due to a lack of private
investment in the UK. However, Will believes that its work can continue under the the auspices of an independent foundation, with input from private and public sectors, and with ownership of the intellectual property for its blood tests reverting to the NHS. He said: “The organisation is called the Early Diagnostics Institute, and it’s goal is to develop tests that tell you are developing a cancer before you realise you are. “Many cancers are much easier to treat if you can catch them early. This is why early diagnosis is our most pressing public health challenge. We have reason to believe we might be able to help with some dementias as well.” He added: “The idea of the EDI is to have it owned by the NHS. Because it will need public money to develop the technology, then the NHS should be the main beneficiary. “It therefore seems strange that the government and the NHS are assisting an American company (Grail) to develop the technology for our most pressing public health challenge, then having to pay the licensing costs of using that technology in perpetuity, when we could develop the capability ourselves, here in the UK.” My view is that, from a public
health perspective, it’s an absolute no brainer, and I don’t say that because Snedden Campbell will be sourcing scientists for the institute. If it is to happen, it will require a change in the mindset of central government and people who run NHS Trusts. We need to get away from the idea that the only revenue the NHS can spend should come from direct government funding. Will told me that there are 21 conditions where there are currently enough samples for his approach to work in the UK Biobank – so his goal of developing five novel tests is reasonably conservative. He said: “The idea is that we will try to find modified proteins that the cancers use that have leaked out
from its founders, Biosignatures Ltd was unable to continue because of the ongoing need for more investment. To date, Grail has raised $2billion in the US. Will said: “One of the things driving this research is having enough samples for a particular disease. we worked on a fairly conservative assumption that, for various technical reasons, they won’t all be tests that we would want to take to market. Some people say that may be the case for Alzheimer’s because at the moment there isn’t a cure for Alzheimer’s. The next issue is cost. You have to process the samples using complex laboratory equipment. That currently costs around £500 a sample including acquisition cost, and you need to do it with hundreds of thousands of people for it to work.”