Simon Barnett

Here's a great resource to track the evolution of the Wuhan coronavirus. Notice the deceleration of newly-identified infections in mainland China. https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6 …

(9/9) If the # of patients who were under-tested and still (erroneously) placed on a targeted therapy were reduced by just 2.3%, the savings could pay for the entire patient cohort to receive guideline-adherent, comprehensive liquid biopsies.

(8/9) Diagnostic vendors may need to expand their salesforces to close the clinician-awareness gap. All this stands to improve patient outcomes (and it makes financial sense to do so too).

(7/9) In short, #sequencing-based liquid biopsies offer a non-invasive alternative to tissue sequencing. There should be a drift to larger, more comprehensive gene panels included on these biopsies to capture the most information for oncologists.

(6/9) Lastly, it can be hard for patients with mCC to be biopsied multiple times. In fact, it's difficult enough getting one tissue sample for sequencing. The importance of testing more patients with comprehensive gene panels can't be understated. How might we get there?

(5/9) Clinician awareness is a second challenge. Across all biomarkers in the study, academic hospitals adhered to guidelines much more than community hospitals did. This makes sense in the context of how often biomarkers/therapies/guidelines are updated.

(4/9) Let's talk about why this might be happening and how it might be improved. Our understanding of cancer biology is accelerating faster than ever, meaning novel genetic variants are identified frequently. It's a lot for doctors/payers/advocacy groups to keep up with.

(3/9) (A) We don't give precision medicine to those who might otherwise benefit. (Under-Treating) (B) We give the wrong precision medicine to those who we'd know wouldn't benefit. (Over-Treating) Both of these outcomes can harm patients and create financial burdens.

(1/9) A recent study of patients (n=1,497) with metastatic colon cancer (mCC) showed that: (A) Only 40% of patients receive the guideline-recommended testing that enables personalized therapy. (B) That % is lower than it was in 2013 (~53%). These numbers are shocking.

As the globe becomes more interconnected (and warms), PI might be the best way to ensure blood safety in the face of new, emerging pathogens.

Despite how quickly we're learning about the virus's genetics, it takes time to develop/license a test to ensure transfusion safety. #Pathogen inactivation (PI) is a way to actively eliminate infectious agents, even if we don't fully understand them. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29239484 

The spread of the #coronavirus highlights the need for more proactive approaches to securing the world's blood supply. Pathogens can spread quickly through blood transfusions. Blood centers may also turn away potentially infected donors, leading to systemic blood shortages.

(2/2) Stay tuned for @ARKInvest's Big Ideas 2020 deck for more on Biotech R&D Efficiency as well as Next-Generation #Sequencing.

Children born with rare genetic conditions see an average of 7 physicians over 5-7 years before receiving a diagnosis. Generally, 30% of these children will not survive to their fifth birthday. Whole genome sequencing can fix this diagnostic odyssey. https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/legislation-help-diagnose-children-rare-diseases-introduced-senators-collins-jones-mcsally …