Veracyte, Inc.  today announced that its Immunoscore Colon Cancer test has been included in the Pan-Asian adapted ESMO¹ Clinical Practice Guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients with localized colon cancer. The new guidelines appear online in Annals of Oncology and will be highlighted at the ESMO Asia Virtual Oncology Week 2021 meeting, being held November 17-23, 2021.

Veracyte acquired the Immunoscore Colon Cancer test through its acquisition of HalioDx in August 2021. The test measures patient immune response at the tumor site and is used to inform chemotherapy decision-making for patients with Stage II and III colon cancer.

The Immunoscore Colon Cancer test was included in the 2020 ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Follow-up of Colon Cancer. The new Pan-Asian guidelines take into account ethnic differences associated with the treatment of localized colon cancer in Asian patients. They comprise the consensus opinions reached by 14 experts representing the oncological societies of Japan, China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.

The 2020 ESMO guidelines and the new Pan-Asian adapted version both emphasize that tumor recurrence risk-assessment and expected benefit from chemotherapy are key to the evaluation of adjuvant therapy options. In this context, the Immunoscore Colon Cancer test is recommended for its ability to refine the prognosis of stage II and stage III colon cancer patients, in conjunction with standard cancer staging known as TNM (Tumor, Node, Metastasis).

“There is a need for standardization of approaches with the aim of optimizing clinical outcomes. The Immunoscore test is introduced in these guidelines in the Risk Assessment chapter as it provides a reliable estimate of risk of recurrence, when used in adjunct to standard TNM classification,” said Dr. Josep Tabernero, of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain. “We are happy to have 100 percent consensus in these up-to-date pan-Asian guidelines for considering the use of the test in stage II and stage III disease.”

“We are pleased that Pan-Asian experts recognize the utility of the Immunoscore test in localized colon cancer,” said Stephane Debono, general manager, Immunoscore and International Diagnostics Operations at Veracyte. “We consider this a significant milestone in our efforts to facilitate reimbursement for the test so that more patients may benefit from its ability to provide important information that may help guide treatment decisions.”

According to the new ESMO Pan-Asian guidelines, recent estimates show Asia to account for half of the new cases, deaths and 5-year prevalence for colorectal cancer (CRC). Asian studies suggesting that individuals of Chinese, Japanese and Korean ethnicity might be more susceptible to CRC. CRC represents a major healthcare challenge across Asia, with the incidence predicted to increase sharply over the next decade.