Dr. Peter Bach Joins Delfi Diagnostics as Chief Medical Officer

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Jun 23, 2021, 10:58 ET

BALTIMORE, June 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Delfi Diagnostics, a developer of next-generation high performance, affordable liquid biopsy tests for early cancer detection, announced today that Peter B. Bach, MD, a lung cancer screening pioneer and health economics expert, has joined as Chief Medical Officer.

Dr. Bach created the first lung cancer risk prediction model, and such models are now widely used to predict the likelihood of heavy smokers developing lung cancer. He led numerous lung cancer screening guideline panels, and as a private citizen initiated the request to Medicare that resulted in nationwide coverage of lung cancer screening. He is an expert in Medicare policy, having served as Senior Adviser to CMS in the Bush Administration and as a member of the agency's coverage advisory committee, which he now chairs.

Delfi is developing a new class of liquid biopsy tests for early detection based on altered genome-wide fragmentation profiles, also known as "fragmentomes," representing aberrant packaging of DNA in cancer cells. By applying advanced machine learning algorithms, these fragment patterns are detectable at a very low sequencing cost. Delfi is using this technology to develop highly sensitive and specific cancer detection assays intended for wide and cost-effective distribution and adoption.

Delfi expects the technology to have broad application across different tumor types, and plans to commercialize a lung cancer early detection test that improves the utilization of lung cancer screening, which has seen slow adoption despite strong evidence of its benefits.

"I'm thrilled to join the Delfi team to help develop its affordable and potentially transformational liquid biopsy tests, focusing on the people who will benefit the most," Dr. Bach said. "Lung cancer screening is the ideal place to start. It has been proven to save lives, but we haven't seen a major public health benefit yet because we're not screening enough eligible people. A blood-based test that helps both enhance screening uptake and refine its utilization would lead to considerable population health gains."

"Peter's work on cancer screening and health economics has been groundbreaking in oncology. I couldn't be more excited to have him and his deep expertise on our team as we continue to build the evidence to support cancer screening across many clinical applications," said Victor Velculescu, MD, PhD, Delfi Diagnostics CEO.

About Delfi Diagnostics
Founded in 2019, Delfi Diagnostics is committed to developing high-performing, affordable blood tests for early detection of cancer across multiple tumor types. Pioneering advances in cancer biology and machine learning, Delfi's technology can achieve high performance from low-cost, widely available sequencing technology.

SOURCE Delfi Diagnostics