Catching colon cancer early can mean the difference between life and death. Getting patients to comply with recommended screening however, is a challenge. When DOTmed News heard that Guy Neev, CEO of Check-Cap, was in our neighborhood to ring the closing bell for NASDAQ about a week ago, we saw a great opportunity to discuss this problem. We asked him a few questions about his company — which fittingly went public during Colon Cancer Awareness Month — and why he is so excited about how their product can potentially improve screening compliance.

DOTmed News: What makes the Check-Cap system different from other ingestible imaging capsules on the market?

Guy Neev: Unlike other screening methods that are designed to generate structural information of the colon for the detection of pre-cancerous polyps — such as optical colonoscopy, computed tomographic colonography (CTC), and other capsule-based technology — our imaging capsule is designed to be ingested without any cleansing of the colon and to travel through the gastrointestinal tract naturally while the patient continues his or her normal daily routine.
Because it requires no fasting and allows for normal eating habits, we believe that this solution will be attractive to both physicians and patients, thereby increasing the number of people willing to undergo screening for CRC.

We believe that our imaging capsule could represent a potential breakthrough in CRC screening by providing a structural exam without the pain, discomfort and embarrassment experienced by some patients undergoing a traditional optical colonoscopy and other currently available screening methods by offering the following benefits:

• eliminating the need for fasting and prior bowel cleansing, which would differentiate our imaging capsule from every other currently available structural screening exam;

• providing patients with a procedure that requires them to swallow our capsule and small amounts of a contrast agent, thereby minimizing any disruption to their normal activities;

• eliminating the need to sedate patients;

• obviating the requirement for the insufflation (the forcing of air into the gastrointestinal tract) of patients;

• administering our technology on an outpatient basis;

• providing digital reporting, storage and remote consulting capabilities; and

• enabling a physician to analyze the results in approximately 10 minutes, which would be less time than is required to conduct an optical colonoscopy.

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