Next week will mark three years since David’s passing, and I’m going to write something more substantial at that time. For now, a small preview of some big news.
A life sciences company called CeMines that has been researching and developing methods for cancer detection recently signed an agreement with Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (a Johnson & Johnson Company) to license the Intellectual Property behind their blood test for early stage lung cancer.
In a press release dated December 8, 2008, the announcement of an agreement between CeMines and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics would take the science one major step further by bringing the cancer detection method to market.
An excerpt from the press release:
The CeMines blood test identifies patterns of antibodies generated by the body’s immune system in response to early stage lung cancer. Studies have shown that the presence and amplification of antibodies in the blood predicts lung cancer at an accuracy rate greater than that of other known methods. CeMines proprietary IP is the result of many years of internal investigation and innovation by CeMines scientists headed by Dr. Toomas Neuman, Ph.D.
The company presentation can be downloaded here. David’s photo is on Page 3. It’s a photo I took of him one day after the diagnosis, which we waited 72 hours for after his biopsy. Results from a biopsy are usually within 48 hours, but the doctors — who were expecting a diagnosis of perhaps lymphoma — were so shocked at the findings (small cell lung cancer) they sent the results back for further testing because David didn’t fit the profile for SCLC at all.