OncoCyte announces VitaGraft Kidney data published in NEJM

Oncocyte announced that data regarding its lead product VitaGraft Kidney was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Oncocyte’s Ekke Schuetz and Julia Beck, inventors of the technology, are among the authors of the study. VitaGraft Kidney was used to monitor graft injury in a phase 2 double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the investigational drug felzartamab, a fully human CD38 monoclonal antibody, for antibody-mediated rejection, or AMR, a leading cause of kidney allograft failure. VitaGraft Kidney measures the amount of DNA in transplant patients’ blood that comes from the donor organ, a key biomarker for assessing graft health. This process is commonly referred to as donor-derived cell-free DNA testing and is widely used in clinical practice today. In this study, Oncocyte’s proprietary diagnostic test using droplet-digital PCR was able to identify responders and non-responders to felzartamab, showing, “a decrease in dd-cfDNA fractions at week 12 and week 24.” The study points to new clinical utilities for VitaGraft Kidney beyond the Company’s currently approved and reimbursed indication of for cause testing. Both therapeutic efficacy and recurrence monitoring are potential new use cases for dd-cfDNA testing. Both utilities would be expected to require multiple tests during the active management phase, when a drug is being given, and long-term to help doctors watch for AMR recurrence.