According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Precision Medicine, or “personalised medicine”, is a new way of tailoring disease care by considering people’s unique genes, environments, and lifestyles. The goal is to give the right treatments at the right time.
Genomics-based testing company Genetic Technologies (ASX: GTG) specialises in cancer tests that align with this concept. The Company is set to partner with the Gold Coast Private Hospital (GCPH), a member of Healthscope, to establish a Precision Medicine Clinic at the hospital.
Gold Coast Private Hospital is a 336-bed, 22-theatre hospital home to leading doctors and surgeons worldwide. It rests under the Healthscope umbrella, which is Australia’s only national private hospital operation and healthcare provider with a network of 42 hospitals that service every state and territory with 19,000 employees. The hospital is a profitable opportunity for GTG to promote its products.
Genetic Technologies’ CEO, Simon Morriss, said, “We are seeing a seismic shift in healthcare today, with acknowledgement of the important contribution that risk assessment tests such as geneType and PGx can make to Precision Medicine. Being able to identify those people at higher risk of certain diseases and those who are more likely to respond to appropriate treatments is major step forward in improving patient health outcomes. We are very excited to be supporting Healthscope with this initiative.”
GTG offers cancer predictive testing and assessment tools to help physicians improve health outcomes for people. Its partnership with the Gold Coast Hospital will be launched with a 50-patient pilot study to establish workflow and patient reporting. The pilot study will use geneType’s Multi-risk test combined with Pharmacogenomics (PGx) tests, providing a comprehensive wellness profile for GCPH patients.
GTG’s geneType Multitest uses one simple saliva test to diagnose nine forms of cancer. It was recently granted approval for three of those forms—melanoma, pancreatic cancer and atrial fibrillation—in Australia after getting the green light in the USA.
Secondly, PGx tests will be an important step in improving GCPH patients’ health outcomes, helping determine genetic modifications that influence drug processing metabolism.
Positive outcomes from this study could enable the rollout of additional Precision Medicine Clinics throughout the Healthscope network. Accordingly, patient recruitment for the pilot study will start immediately.
The Research Manager for the Gold Coast private hospital, Michelle Ferrari Cestari, added, “We have a clear vision for a Precision Medicine Clinic that focuses on preventative care, wellness and creating proactive patient pathways that lead to early detection, and better treatment of the common diseases”
Earlier this month, Genetic Tech was assigned as the sole Industry Partner for a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Genomics Health Futures Mission Grant awarded to a group of national and international research and charity organisations, facilitating funding for the CASSOWARY Trial. The trial will test the functionality and affordability of a multi-cancer polygenic risk score in everyday practice. This would have major implications for national cancer policy, placing GTG in an influential role.
In FY23, the Company went from an R&D organisation with one polygenic risk test to one with revenues anchored in three brands: geneType, EasyDNA, and AffinityDNA. Consequently, its revenue stood at $8.7 million, up 28% on FY22. Its customer cash receipts also increased from $5.7 million in FY22 to $8.7 million. Even so, Genetic Tech ended the year with $7.8 million in cash, down from FY22’s $11.7 million and FY21’s $20.9 million.
As the Company addresses losses due to increased R&D spending, the Company remains optimistic about the profitability of its cancer diagnostic tests.
Alinda is a Business Reporter for The Sentiment
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