Steps to sure | Clinical studies pause during a global pandemic | March 2020
Oct 26, 2021
In March 2020, the whole world paused. Normal life was suspended in time as we reckoned with the reality of a global pandemic. But cancer doesn’t pause for a pandemic.
This was a difficult juncture for precision healthcare company, Syantra Inc., who’d been hard at work developing a blood test for the early detection of breast cancer. Their clinical studies underway in Calgary, Oklahoma City and Manchester were all suspended within the last two weeks of March 2020. Their main focus was retrieving samples that had already been collected, ensuring data to keep moving their test forward.
“Without samples, we wouldn’t have any ability to generate data, even though we were able to observe physical distancing and other COVID guidelines to continue work in our Calgary lab,” says Bob Shepherd, Co-Founder, President & CEO of Syantra. “Our other concern was how long the shutdowns would last and how that would affect our sample count, project timelines and study outcomes.”
Fortunately, Syantra had a significant number of samples already in their Calgary-based biobank prior to the lockdowns. And throughout March and April, they successfully shipped in 95% of the samples that had been collected internationally. But this was only the first roadblock that COVID placed in their path.
“Being able to reopen provided the materials we needed at a critical point in our growth.”
The pandemic demanded an all-hands-on-deck approach from the medical community, including medical testing laboratories. Syantra had been working with Alberta Precision Labs (APL) for sample collection. As COVID cases surged, access to APL services wasn’t an option. Fortunately, Calgary’s burgeoning biotech community presented another opportunity with TapLabs; an innovative mobile lab collection service.
“To overcome the sample collection issue, we partnered with TapLabs to conduct collections for us... That ultimately allowed us to restart recruitment in Calgary,” says Shepherd.
Keeping clinical studies and data collection going throughout a pandemic took agility and perseverance. But the battle against breast cancer motivated the Syantra team to find a way forward. “Being able to reopen provided the materials we needed at a critical point in our growth,” says Shepherd. “Without the ability to generate data over the course of the last year and a half, Syantra DX | Breast Cancer would've been stuck in development.”
Instead, the Syantra DX | Breast Cancer test soft-launched in Calgary in July 2021. Another step closer to sure.
Dr. Kristina Rinker and Bob Shepherd of Syantra with partners from the Alberta Cancer Research Biobank (ACRB) after the Identification of Breast Cancer from a Blood Sample (IDBC) clinical study reopened in Calgary, Alberta.
Interested in participating in our Calgary clinical study?
Syantra announces additions to their Intellectual property (IP) portfolio as well as a strategic partnership with Limmi, a US-based technology company using AI-driven insights to power next generation disease detection and management techniques. These achievements mark significant milestones for Syantra and represent major advancements in understanding human disease.
CALGARY, AB. - Today, Syantra, a liquid biopsy platform and innovation company that is changing the way cancer is detected, starting with Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer , announced that Rob Lozuk has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, effective November 1, 2023. “Rob brings over 23 years of experience successfully scaling and transacting commercially disruptive technologies across the healthcare landscape,” said Kristina Rinker, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder of Syantra. “We are thrilled to add an accomplished world-class executive to our leadership team to elevate our pivotal work in blood-based cancer detection. Rob will bring substantial value to our organization as we expand into the United States with commercial introduction of the Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer test, a blood test that identifies individuals who may have breast cancer, including early-stage disease.” “The existing early cancer detection liquid biopsy paradigm is not adequate, economical, or scalable. Entirely too many early-stage cancers are still being missed, at a time when the opportunity for intervention and survival is the greatest. Truly disruptive healthcare technologies are generational – and that’s exactly what Syantra’s liquid biopsy platform will become” states CEO of Syantra, Rob Lozuk, and adds, “I’m thrilled to be joining the Syantra team at this critical juncture in the liquid biopsy arena. Our AI-powered RNA-based liquid biopsy platform represents a revolution for the screening and detection modalities by measuring a key shift in the body’s immune response that allows cancer to develop. We will rapidly expand the clinical data of the Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer blood test over the remainder of 2023 in preparation for broad global commercialization in 2024.” Within the precision biotech space, Syantra’s liquid biopsy platform has already demonstrated impressive performance statistics as exemplified in the Analytical and Clinical Performance from the Early Analysis of the International Identify Breast Cancer (IDBC) Study, presented by Professor Nigel Bundred, Surgical Oncologist with the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Wythenshawe Hospital, at the 13th European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona, Spain, in November of 2022. About Rob Lozuk Prior to joining Syantra, Rob was the Chief Business Officer at Cardea Bio, which culminated in a sale to Paragraf in 2023. Rob was also the President of Specific Diagnostics, which was sold to bioMérieux in 2022. As a public company officer, Rob led the global commercial and operating businesses at Sequenom, a pioneer in revolutionizing the prenatal space, which was successfully transacted to Lab Corp (LH). Prior to Sequenom, Rob was the P&L leader for ThermoFisher Scientific’s Advanced Staining Business and served as Director of Sales, Marketing and Business Development. About Syantra, Inc. Syantra is a precision biotechnology company changing the way cancer is detected and treated with revolutionary high-performance blood-based tests providing a new way to help detect cancer. Syantra’s scalable, patent-protected platform is based on changes in the immune system and other systemic factors that occur when a cancer tumor is present. These changes can be measured through mRNA biomarkers that are contained in a small amount (2.5ml) of blood. When biomarker expression is combined with patient characteristics, there is a high correlation to the presence or absence of disease. The Syantra platform includes a custom real-time PCR process with proprietary software that includes machine learning-based algorithms. Syantra’s blood testing platform provides a cost-effective way to help identify individuals who may have cancer and should be further evaluated. About the Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer test Syantra is changing the way cancer is detected and treated. Its flagship product, Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer , is a minimally invasive and high-performance blood test for the detection of breast cancer signals at the earliest stages, when breast cancer is easier to treat. The Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer test will be available to women in Canada and the United States in early 2024.
At age 29, Cara woke up with a small lump on her chest. Cara made sure to visit her doctor right away for a thorough breast exam and mammogram. Two weeks later, after an ultrasound and a biopsy, Cara was diagnosed with breast cancer.
In her early 30s, Katie Smith-Parent noticed a lump on her breast. She was initially told by a doctor not to worry and that the lump would go away on its own. She trusted her instincts and after finding a new doctor, she was diagnosed with stage two hormone-positive breast cancer. Today, she is an advocate for early detection and oncofertility.
Syantra announced today that it has obtained CE marking for the Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer test. Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer is a minimally invasive blood test for the detection of an active breast cancer signature - in the earliest stages when it is easier to treat. Securing CE marking allows the company to market the blood test in the European Union and other countries that recognize the designation.
The typical career journey for a scientist is fairly linear. But a lens focused on only one speciality can make it challenging to leverage the many ways these disciplines can crossover. Imagine the possibilities of a single scientist who brings expertise from more than three disciplines to research. Syantra found that in Olesya Kharenko, PhD.
Syantra Inc. announced today the promotion of Carol Roesler to Vice President, effective January 2023.
Carol will maintain her current responsibilities in her new role, in addition to supporting Canadian business development for the Syantra DX™ Breast Cancer test.
Syantra will present findings from the IDBC Study at the 13th European Breast Cancer Conference, held in Barcelona, Spain from 16 -18 November 2022.
Syantra appoints Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli, a world-renowned leader in the field of breast cancer, to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) effective Sept 1, 2022. Dr. Cristofanilli is a Professor of Medicine, Chief of Breast Medical Oncology and Associate Director of Precision Medicine at Weill-Cornell Medicine.
In November 2020, Jesslyn Davies, a 33-year-old registered nurse and mother of two young boys, noticed a small cyst on her breast. Soon after, she was diagnosed with Triple Negative Stage 2B breast cancer.
