New Brunswick introduces liquid biopsy option for lung cancer patients
Procedure is less invasive and can be done at regional health-care facilities across the province
Some New Brunswickers dealing with lung cancer will soon have a new diagnostic tool available to them.
On Monday, the Department of Health, alongside Vitalité Health Network, ResearchNB and AstraZeneca, announced the availability of liquid biopsies.
"We estimate that it's probably going to be about 100 or so patients per year that will benefit from this," said Rodney Ouellette, medical director at the molecular genetics lab at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Monction. "In the total lung cancer population, it's a significant number."
Liquid biopsies are done by taking a blood sample from the area surrounding a tumour, and the DNA is analyzed. It's much less invasive than traditional methods, which involve either surgery or a needle biopsy.
But traditional biopsies can be difficult with patients who have more health challenges, Ouellette said.
"So in those patients, if time is of the essence and we need an answer in terms of which therapy could potentially work, that's where liquid biopsy becomes a useful tool in the toolkit."
The sample can be taken at any regional health-care facility in the province, so patients don't have to travel as far from home. It will then be sent to the Georges Dumont centre for analysis so oncologists can begin working on a treatment plan.
Funding from province, AstraZeneca
Over the 2024-25 fiscal year, the N.B. Department of Health will contribute up to $175,000 toward liquid biopsy testing.
In addition, AstraZeneca will contribute $100,000 to boost testing capacity at the Georges Dumont hospital.
"When we have industry that's doing innovative things, again, putting that together with the research and better patient care, that's a win-win for everyone involved," said Bruce Fitch, the provincial minister of health and MLA for Riverview.
Fitch said the announcement was a great example of different groups working together to help residents.
"This collaboration is what we've been promoting. It's what we've been pushing," he said.
Fitch said one in four cancer deaths in New Brunswick is due to lung cancer, and he hopes this will improve outcomes.
"Being diagnosed with cancer is a tough situation. So if the treatment and the diagnosis can be a little less invasive with less travel, I think that's going to be a better outcome for the patients."
Years of research
Ouellette and his team have been working on the liquid biopsy technology for years, he said. It was already at the point of being validated for clinical use but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed that work.
"So we're glad now that we're back on track and that we're among the first in Canada to offer this," he said.
Ouellette said this will also be important in making sure that all cancer patients in the province, no matter their location or their medical situation, can receive the same type of care.
"Patients that are maybe a little bit sicker, maybe with difficult situations, they can still access these therapies," he said, "because these therapies, they work extremely well."
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