AOA’s inaugural product is AKRIVIS GD test, a blood test to diagnose women with ovarian cancer early
AOA
On June 14, 2021, CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour revealed that she, like “millions of women” around the world, had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. “I’m telling you this in the interest of transparency,” she said in her on-air announcement, “but, in truth, really mostly as a shoutout to early diagnosis.”
Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women, accounting for more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. A woman’s risk of getting ovarian cancer during her lifetime is about 1 in 78.
Early diagnosis of ovarian cancer dramatically improves the survival rate. When detected early, almost 95% of ovarian cancer patients live more than five years after their diagnosis — but only around 15% of ovarian cancers are found early. Previously known as the “silent killer” believed to be asymptomatic, recent large-scale trials show that over 90% of women experience symptoms for many months – such as pelvic pain, bloating, and fatigue – and the vast majority seek medical intervention. Due to a lack of an accurate test at early stages, many of the symptoms are attributed to other causes, and therefore, the cancer is typically not diagnosed until Stage 4: a point at which it has already spread — or metastasized— to other parts of the body, and the five-year survival rates drop to under 20%. This means that when we catch ovarian cancer early, we give women a fighting chance at survival.
In addition to the emotional and physical burdens placed on individuals who have been diagnosed, there’s a significant financial cost. The average cost of care for women with ovarian cancer in the first year after surgery is approximately $100,000, and patients bear approximately 3% of these costs in the form of out-of-pocket expenses.
“Early diagnosis is one of the best remedies for ovarian cancer, but the current standard of care often can’t detect cancer early or accurately enough. I’ve been working with my cofounders, Anna Jeter and Alex Fisher, for the last decade on bringing to market diagnostics for women’s health. When we learned about the challenges in ovarian cancer, both how challenging it is to diagnose and how low the survival rates were, we knew we needed to be a part of changing the standard of care for women,” starts her story Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, cofounder of AOA, a company on a mission to improve the early detection of cancer through the development of an innovative blood-based platform.
Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, cofounder of AOA
AOA
Last year, Papin-Zoghbi and her team partnered with renowned cancer researcher Professor H. Uri Saragovi, Senior Investigator with the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and Professor at McGill University, to develop the first ovarian cancer liquid biopsy diagnostic test. The first product that AOA is working on now is the AKRIVIS GD test, a blood test to diagnose women with ovarian cancer early. “Currently, 80% of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed at stage III or IV, resulting in a very low five-year survival rate. AOA’s technology is set to transform ovarian cancer diagnostics by detecting the disease earlier than that. Our proof-of-concept study demonstrates high accuracy across all cancer stages and epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes,” explains Papin-Zoghbi.
The current standard of care for ovarian cancer diagnosis is CA 125 which came to market in 1987 with no improvement in over 35 years. AOA Dx’s technology detects 53% more patients with early-stage disease compared to the current standard of care.
Upon being admitted to Y Combinator’s program this year, AOA’s team received an overwhelmingly positive response from VCs and angels supportive of their mission to give women a fighting chance at survival against this deadly disease. The round was led by Joyance Partners with Avestria Ventures, AlleyCorp, Launchpad Venture Group, TBD Angels, Kyto Technology and Life Science, Pioneer Fund, SideCar Angels, and Beacon Angels also participating in the $2.5 million seed round.
AOA is currently going through the YC’s summer 2021 batch and Papin-Zoghbi admits she’s actually really glad it is virtual. “Fundraising during the pandemic was an interesting experience. I am naturally an extrovert and really enjoy connecting with people in person, especially investors who are going to be such an integral part of our journey. Making it work with Zoom, as many companies have actually created incredible opportunities for us to raise money from all over the country and all over the world where we may not have had the ability to travel to pitch to them in person beforehand. We were also able to move faster through working online, scheduling pitches and diligences in short time frames, allowing us to raise the round quite quickly,” adds Papin-Zoghbi.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 21,410 women in 2021 in the U.S. will receive a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer and about 13,770 women will die from ovarian cancer. By 2035, new cases are predicted to increase 55% and deaths by 67%.
“Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecological disease because there is no accurate testing method and therefore the symptoms are continuously mistaken for benign conditions, making it incredibly difficult to diagnose the disease in the early stages. We have an exciting journey ahead of us with further prospective patient clinical trials and FDA processes to get our test to market as soon as possible and have an impact on patient lives. Women deserve better,” concludes Papin-Zoghbi.
