The FDA approves the Ovarian Cancer Test

After some time now it has finally been approved. Vermillions Ovarian Cancer Test which detects ovarian cancer and helps doctors know what kind of surgery needs to be done and by who. I have been following up on this since it was developed. This new Cancer Test was developed with support from Johns Hopkins University which is one of the best research universities in America when it comes to public health and medicine in general.

Named OVA1 it is a blood test to detect ovarian cancer, it is mostly intended for women who require a pelvic mass. The test mostly checks protein levels, 5 of them to be exact, and it focuses on the change in these 5 proteins. It then gives the patient a score anywhere between 1 and 10, this score can indicate and let the doctor know the likelihood of a tumor being malignant or benign.

Once Vermillion announced their FDA approval of OVA1 their stocks jumped and they also announced their partners in this venture, Quest Diagnostics, they will be making OVA1 available in the future.

Interesting that this all came out during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, which is one of the top ten most common cancers in the world. I will follow up more on OVA1 and let’s see how it helps patients in the future.

Resources:
Genomeweb.com
Webmd.com
Fda.gov