LabGenomics Accelerates OTD Lung Cancer Companion Diagnostic Service... Leading Precision Medicine with Personalized Treatment

LabGenomics announced on the 13th that through its next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based OTD-Lung (Omni Tumor Detect-Lung) service, it can provide diagnostic data that increases the possibility of prescribing targeted therapies tailored to gene mutations in non-small cell lung cancer patients, thereby improving patients' treatment outcomes. The OTD lung cancer companion diagnostic cost is relatively lower in terms of patient co-pay compared to other cancer types, which is expected to drive rapid sales growth.

The OTD-Lung service is a test specialized for non-small cell lung cancer patients. It provides accurate results within two weeks using only a small amount of tissue from lung cancer patients, whose tissue acquisition is more difficult compared to other cancer types. Compared to tests conducted for all solid tumors (solid tumor level 2), it also offers about a 43% reduction in medical costs, leading to increased patient accessibility and higher test selection frequency.

The company stated, “According to selective reimbursement criteria, patient burden is reduced and the importance of personalized precision medicine is increasing, leading to a rapid rise in interest in OTD-Lung at tertiary general hospitals and cancer specialty hospitals. Leading university hospitals in Korea have already adopted it, and based on the reference competitiveness and high diagnostic accuracy secured at these hospitals, we will strive to enable more tertiary general hospitals to adopt it.”

NGS-based solid tumor tests, performed more than 20,000 times annually, have been rapidly growing at an average rate of 22% per year since being listed for reimbursement in 2017. In particular, the companion diagnostic for lung cancer, which has the highest cancer mortality rate, ‘OTD-Lung,’ is showing strong sales as it can apply a 50% patient co-pay rate under the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s selective reimbursement criteria. In December last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that among NGS products listed for reimbursement, a 50% co-pay rate applies to stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma patients, while an 80% co-pay rate applies to other cancer patients.

Kim Jeong-ju, CEO of LabGenomics, said, “Our OTD Lung service uses Thermo Fisher’s Oncomine Dx Target Test panel. Compared to existing NGS panels targeting all cancer types, it enables rapid testing with half the specimen amount and is the only test among domestic NGS panels that has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), providing highly reliable diagnostic data.”

He added, “The number of OTD-Lung tests has been rapidly increasing since its initial launch and is being used in treatment settings at leading university hospitals in Korea. By providing NGS testing services for various cancer types, including solid tumor diagnostic services and solid tumor liquid biopsies such as the OTD-Lung test, we will work towards a ‘win-win’ strategy that improves patient survival rates and supports conquering cancer.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.