Fox Chase Cancer Center has initiated a research partnership with breath analysis cancer detection startup SpotitEarly.
Announced on Jan. 22, the collaboration will see that Fox, a Philadelphia hospital, leads a multi-year clinical trial evaluating SpotitEarly’s technology. These trials will assess the New Jersey-based medtech company’s exhaled-breath test in patients undergoing standard evaluations for suspected lung cancer. Results will be compared against established care protocols.
SpotitEarly will support the research with direct funding and through providing the centre with a portion of its equity. The joint initiative seeks to procure robust clinical evidence validating efficacy of the novel early screening measure through extensive tests and ultimately make it more widely available.
SpotitEarly’s detection system combines the remarkable scent-detection abilities of trained dogs with AI to identify cancer-specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath. The unique metabolic byproducts that cancer cells produce release distinct VOC odour signatures into exhaled air that can be detected at even very low concentrations and in the early stages of disease.
Patients simply breathe into a collection device for a few minutes. Then, trained dogs sniff these samples and signal detections through specific behaviours and movements. SpotitEarly uses multiple dogs per analysis to boost reliability.
Once these beagles and Labradors have smelled the breath samples, artificial intelligence algorithms analyze their behavioural and physiological responses to identify patterns and improve consistency across tests.
Early-stage clinical studies on this “LUCID” bio-AI hybrid platform have shown that it yields a 94 per cent rate of accuracy in detecting multiple cancers. The approach is a standout because of its speed, low-cost nature and scalability. In the future, millions of tests could potentially be completed annually from just one facility.
“Dogs are far more sensitive than an ‘electronic nose,'” said SpotitEarly CEO Shlomi Madar in an interview. “They can detect volatile organic compounds in parts per trillion, which is several times better than any artificial instrument.”
SpotitEarly’s lung cancer breath analysis component, in particular, fits into a broader wave of similar modern innovations. OneBreath from Breath Diagnostics is another screening device that has been attracting attention because of its accurate, radiation-free and inexpensive nature. This medical technology analyzes VOCs with high-precision, state-of-the-art mass spectrometry.
Breath-focused medtech innovations like these hold promise for transforming routine screening into something more accessible and boosting survival rates.
Read more: Prestigious medtech intelligence firm recognizes Breath Diagnostics for innovation
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