The Orange County Business Journal’s Yuika Yoshida reports on how Irvine-based Helio Genomics is using a simple blood test — and a multi-biomarker approach — to detect cancer earlier.
Helio Genomics, one of Orange County’s better-funded diagnostics startups, says it has found a way to detect early-stage cancer more accurately — using nothing more than a simple blood draw.
Working with the University of California, Irvine, the Irvine-based company ran a study testing whether combining multiple biomarkers could catch early signs of colon cancer more reliably than any single signal on its own. The results were published in the journal Genome Medicine.
That multidimensional thinking sits at the heart of how Helio approaches detection.
“Cancer is multidimensional, so you should take a multidimensional approach to detect it.”
— Justin Chen Li, CEO, Helio Genomics
According to Li, the findings will help advance the next generation of the company’s first product, HelioLiver — a blood test the company says detects early-stage liver cancer more effectively than traditional methods.
At the time of the interview, Li said Helio was moving HelioLiver through the regulatory process, with plans to submit the test to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
View source version on ocbj.com.