Epi One wants to help doctors diagnose cancer earlier, more easily, and more accurately.
The cancer-diagnosis market is massive. In the U.S. alone, it’s projected to be a seventy-billion-dollar market by 2032. Why so large?
Because diagnosing cancer is the key to treating it. And perhaps surprisingly, many cancers are treatable when caught early.
The problem is that traditional detection methods like MRIs, lab tests, and biopsies are expensive and inaccurate. Furthermore, they can take days, weeks, or even months to generate results. And this delay can make the difference between life and death for a patient.
Take a closer look at the current detection methods:
Imaging costs as much as $10,000, and has a high false-positive rate. Lab tests can cost as much as $8,000 a piece, and require weeks to receive results.
Biopsies are the most expensive tests — upwards of $20,000 — and aren’t standardized across different types of cancers. And liquid biopsies, while affordable, can be wildly inaccurate.
Driven by the loss of his first wife and mother to cancer, Epi One CEO Michael Marquardt — at one time Chairman of the American Cancer Society’s Board of Directors — decided to create an alternative-testing method.
This company has created a simple diagnostic kit that enables early cancer detection, post-diagnosis monitoring, and prognosis assessment. All it takes is a single blood draw and the use of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, a method widely used to make copies of a specific DNA sample rapidly, enabling scientists and doctors to make faster, more accurate diagnoses.
Results from Epi One’s test can be had in just six hours. And accuracy rates include more than ninety-five percent accuracy for tissue tests and more than seventy percent for early cancer blood tests.
To make money, Epi One will initially provide laboratory-developed tests to clinics and hospitals. Then, it aims to receive FDA approval to make these tests available to patients for just $500.
Epi One has raised more than three million dollars from angel investors and the company aims to begin generating revenue soon.