Veriskin Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with a noninvasive technology for skin cancer diagnosis and screening. The hand-held device, called Truscore, is designed to help nonexpert users quickly ascertain if a suspicious skin lesion is cancerous. Truscore works by detecting and interpreting force-induced hemodynamic differences between normal and malignant skin sores. It uses a proprietary artificial neural network-based artificial intelligence algorithm and protocols to differentiate skin cancers from other harmless skin conditions.

The FDA’s approval for Johnson & Johnson (J&J) of Rybrevant (amivantamab-vmjw) not only brings the first treatment for adults with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors bear EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations, but also sets a high overall response rate bar for other developers in the space.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has updated its recommendations for lung cancer screening, which expands the age group for screening to include those aged 50-54 years. The change has forced CMS to reopen the national coverage memo for low-dose CT screening for lung cancer, which appears to be set to add millions to the number of Americans who are eligible for annual screening procedures.

While saying "white rabbit, white rabbit" on the first of the month may be a luck-bringing superstition, Whiterabbit.ai aims to take luck out of the equation in identifying early breast malignancies. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company emerged from stealth mode with FDA clearance for its Wrdensity tool, two other products, and more than $49 million in funding to date.

Caris Life Sciences Inc. raised $830 million in a capital growth round led by Sixth Street Partners, the latest show of private investors’ zeal for backing precision medicine ventures. The infusion, which includes $235 million in equity financing, will be used for continued commercial expansion and to advance its liquid biopsy platform. T.R. Price Associates Inc., Silver Lake, Fidelity Management & Research Co. LLC were significant contributors in the round.

Avenda Health Inc. has taken a page out of the breast cancer book with a new technology that offers very localized treatment of prostate tumors in a procedure the company refers to as a prostate cancer lumpectomy. The FDA granted breakthrough device designation to the product based on its potential to transform care for one of the most common cancers.

The discovery of synthetic lethality between BRCA mutations and PARP inhibitors ranks has led to major advances in the treatment of BRCA-mutated cancers. Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 can leave cells with a deficiency in homologous repair (HR). And that deficiency can make them vulnerable to PARP inhibitors, which block alternate DNA repair pathways, as well as platinum-based treatment, which induces DNA mutations that BRCA-deficient cells are unable to cope with.

PERTH, Australia – The FDA granted Oncores Medical Pty. Ltd. breakthrough device designation for its quantitative micro-elastography (QME) imaging system. The hand-held imaging tool helps surgeons differentiate between cancerous and healthy tissue in real time at the point of surgery, and it could substantially improve outcomes in breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and reduce repeat operations for women with breast cancer.

PERTH, Australia – Imagion Biosystems Ltd. has entered a collaborative research program with therapeutic antibody development company Patrys Ltd. to combine their technologies to target brain tumor imaging and diagnosis.

Molli Surgical Inc. has won the FDA’s nod for its wire-free localization technology for breast cancer surgery. The company said the Molli system helps radiologists tag cancerous lesions quickly and precisely, facilitating surgical excision and eliminating a source of anxiety associated with breast tumor removal.