DOTmed News: Can you describe your own background in health care and how you arrived where you are today?
GN: Prior to assuming my position as Check-Cap chief executive officer in 2008, I served as chief executive officer for several early stage medical devices companies, primarily in coronary stents and robotic surgery. Prior to that, I was a cardiovascular business unit manager at Boston Scientific Corporation after being business unit manager at Azimuth Technologies Ltd. and a chief executive officer of its subsidiary, Waycomm Wireless Solutions Ltd. I also served as a major in the Israeli Air Force.
I had always looked for opportunities that change the standard of care. I met with Check-Cap inventor, Dr. Yoav Kimchy in 2007 and thought this was one of those ideas that could really change cancer care and save so many lives. I myself realized how invasive and unpleasant traditional colonoscopy is and strongly believe that a non-invasive modality like the check-cap imaging system could make a very significant impact on the colon cancer screening market, which would eventually save many lives.
DOTmed News: How has policy informed routine colon screening? Are there any trends you've noticed in recent years?
GN: CRC screening can reduce death rates from CRC both by preventing the disease and by detecting it at earlier more treatable stages. CRC is one of the few cancers that can be prevented through screening because pre-cancerous polyps, from which colon cancers usually develop, can be identified and removed. The five-year survival rate is greater than 90 percent for CRC patients diagnosed at an early, localized stage.
However, less than 40 percent of cases are currently diagnosed at that stage. According to the CDC, at least 6 out of every 10 deaths from CRC could be prevented if every adult age 50 years or older was screened regularly and that approximately 30,000 lives could be saved each year in the United States if the screening recommendations were followed. The ACS’s goal is to have 80% of those 50 years and older who are covered by the program screened by 2018.
The ACS recommends that men and women over the age of 50 receive an optical colonoscopy every 10 years or other structural test, such as sigmoidoscopy or virtual colonoscopy, every five years or alternatively, FOBT should be performed every year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of mid-2014, there were projected to be approximately 91 million Americans aged 50-75 years. Assuming the longest screening interval of 10 years, the addressable annual U.S. patient population is at least 9.1 million.
