Pharus, Inc. Names Philip C. Huang as Company CEO, Becomes Newest Player in Cancer Liquid Biopsy Market

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Oct 03, 2022, 09:00 ET

Pharus, Inc. is working to streamline precision medicine-based cancer screening with OncoSweep™ Multi-Cancer Early Detection technology

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharus, Inc. ("PharusDx"), a new diagnostics company spun out from Hsinchu, Taiwan-based Quark Biosciences, has named Philip Huang as its Chief Executive Officer. PharusDx creates solutions for the early detection of cancer and is currently developing its OncoSweep™ Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) liquid biopsy test as well as single-cancer liquid biopsy tests that evaluate microRNA (miRNA) within the body.

Philip C. Huang
CEO, Pharus Diagnostics — Philip C. Huang CEO, Pharus Diagnostics

Mr. Huang has worked in various leadership roles for almost 20 years, most recently serving as Vice President of Roche Diagnostics' Asia Pacific Partnering Hub, where he was responsible for global business development opportunities that grew out of the Asia Pacific region. Before joining Roche, Mr. Huang was Vice President of Global Business Development for EKF Diagnostics, a UK point-of-care diagnostics company, where he led corporate strategy and solidified strategic partnerships. He studied Chemical Engineering at MIT and Stanford and received his MBA from INSEAD.

PharusDx is entering the precision medicine market with the goal of changing cancer diagnosis, so that medical professionals can detect and treat cancer early, before it progresses to advanced disease. With traditional biopsies, physicians need to obtain cells and tissue via invasive procedures that are painful for the patient, expensive to perform, hard to conduct on patients repeatedly and have a long turnaround time to obtain results. Using OncoSweep™ MCED and single-cancer liquid biopsy tests, physicians can find circulating biomarkers for multiple forms of cancer by testing blood or other body fluid samples. Since this is a minimally invasive procedure, it can be done easily and repeatedly. It is also relatively affordable and provides results much faster.

Preliminary data from a study conducted using OncoSweep™ MCED test were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in 2020 and showed promising results. A study of roughly 417 cancer patients and 344 healthy patients showed that OncoSweep™ MCED test was able to achieve 86.5% overall accuracy with 91.4% sensitivity and 85.0% specificity in detecting multiple cancers. The results impressed Hong Kong-based CK Life Sciences and CK Hutchison, which announced a major investment in PharusDx in July of this year.

"The ability for liquid biopsy tests to detect multiple forms of cancer in early stages has advanced dramatically in recent years," says Dr. Johnsee Lee, chairman of PharusDx Taiwan. "With OncoSweep™, PharusDx can test for more than 100 miRNA biomarkers by collecting a small blood sample and use machine learning algorithms to complete data analysis to determine a person's likelihood of having cancer. This will be a game changer in how the world detects cancer, and with Philip's background and industry experience, we believe he is the right person to lead PharusDx."

"As a company committed to innovation and technology, we see this as a great opportunity. We believe the OncoSweep™ technology developed by PharusDx can have a significant impact on healthcare, providing accurate, affordable tests for early cancer detection that can be widely deployed," says Dr. Melvin Toh, VP & Chief Scientific Officer of CK Life Sciences, one of the early investors in PharusDx.

PharusDx is conducting large-scale clinical trials in Asia to improve and validate the performance of OncoSweep™ MCED and single-cancer liquid biopsy tests in its development pipeline.

"More than nine million people die of cancer around the world every year. Most of the time, cancer is caught too late. We are providing an affordable solution that people can use to detect cancer early. Early detection with OncoSweep™ is important, but we are working to do more. We want to provide answers to patients early on to help improve their lives and the lives of their loved ones. It is more than just a single test; PharusDx is working to improve the overall patient experience," says Mr. Huang.

About Pharus, Inc.

Pharus, Inc. is a spin-off company of Hsinchu, Taiwan-based Quark Biosciences, and has offices in Hsinchu and Hong Kong, with plans to open a US office in Los Angeles, CA. Pharus, Inc. is an innovative healthcare company whose vision is to become the leading premier provider of affordable and extensively deployed liquid biopsy tests for the early detection of multiple types of cancer to achieve a future where all cancers can be managed early for better outcomes. The company is funded by leading investors, including CK Life Sciences and CK Hutchison, and is currently developing its OncoSweep™ Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) and single-cancer liquid biopsy tests to help inform individuals and to ultimately save lives.

Media Contact:
Dan Green
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SOURCE Pharus Diagnostics