Syantra: The Calgary company revolutionizing breast cancer detection
Diagnosing breast cancer isn’t as easy as a quick test, but one Calgary-based company is bringing that scenario one step closer to reality. Syantra Inc. is about to release Syantra DX | Breast Cancer, a blood test that is designed to aid in the early detection of breast cancer.
You read that right.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, breast cancer is “the most common cancer among Canadian women (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers).” Historically, the incidence of breast cancer increased as screening ramped up in the 1980s and 1990s, through better mammography imaging. Thanks to improvements in medicine as well as early detection, the mortality rate for breast cancer decreased dramatically, down 48 per cent since its peak in 1986. Yet still, 25 per cent of new cancers in women in 2020 were estimated to be breast cancer by the Canadian Cancer Society.
That’s why Syantra’s team of clinicians, bioengineers, data scientists, and laboratory scientists have dedicated their company to revolutionizing the way we detect breast cancer, because in their words, “every woman deserves to be sure.”
Syantra
HOW IT WORKS
As with most types of cancer, the key to a positive outcome for breast cancer is early detection. While mammograms have come a long way and helped with diagnosing breast cancer early, they aren’t an effective diagnostic tool for all women.
Mammograms use x-rays to take images of breast tissue, in order to screen for abnormalities such as masses. In Canada, it’s recommended women age 50 and above have a mammogram every two to three years, or earlier and more often for women with increased risks.
Best described as low-dose x-rays, mammograms are generally effective in finding masses in breast tissue. But here’s the catch. Breast density can affect the way the final images turn out – the denser a woman’s breast tissue is, the lighter it shows up on a mammogram, which can make it more difficult to detect abnormal masses, which also appear white on the image. No two breasts look the same in a mammogram. Not only can they vary in density, but each breast can also have scattered areas of density, which can light up across a mammogram and lead to inconclusive results.
According to Syantra, about 50 per cent of women have dense or very dense breast tissue – meaning a significant number of the population may have issues with standard mammograms and miss vital indicators of early breast cancer.
This is why Syantra developed a blood test that can detect breast cancer early.
Called Syantra DX | Breast Cancer, the test has been developed as a tool for laboratories to use in detecting the presence of active breast cancer. The company uses a special approach called real-time polymerase chain reaction, or quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR), including artificial intelligence, to analyze blood samples and detect the markers of breast cancer.
It's world-changing stuff, to say the least.
Bob Shepherd, President and CEO at Syantra.
A CHANCE MEETING
Headquartered in Calgary, Syantra’s team of science and technology experts have been working with collaborators in Canada, the US, the UK, and in South Korea on this breakthrough for some time. Bob Shepherd, President & CEO, was a lead research associate for his wife and co-founder Dr. Kristina Rinker, a professor of biomedical engineering and the lead of the Charbonneau Cancer Institute’s Early Cancer Detection Initiative at the University of Calgary. In 2011, they met Hyeyoung Lee, a visiting professor from South Korea as part of a trade mission between Alberta and the Gangwon province in South Korea.
Lee had a small business in South Korea working on diagnostics for infectious diseases, so they had a lot to talk about.
The three worked together and received a grant to work on breast cancer research. “Her group focused on molecular signature,” said Shepherd. “We focused on models and the ability to investigate whether we could evaluate if cancer would progress.” They were able to secure funding from the provincial government to further their research and add a PhD student to their team.
“We saw that we had a way to identify the presence of cancer, not just a molecular test for predicting the risk of developing disease down the road,” said Shephard. “Our goal changed at that point and became more urgent.”
They looked at a large suite of Korean tests where they had good success rates, developed their own test iteration, and then went on to set up further clinical studies in Canada and other locations throughout the world.
One notable organization the company partnered with, and still does to this day, is the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, through the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
“We have access to their network, and they advocate for our study,” said Shepherd.
Syantra continues to work with Korean partners and shareholders, and blood sample collection activities in Oklahoma City in the US have just wrapped up.
Syantra
CALGARY’S POTENTIAL AS A GLOBAL BIOTECH HUB
Here at home, Syantra has partnered with several organizations, including the Alberta Cancer Research Biobank.
“They helped us get our protocols together and shared how to run recruitment studies for women coming back in after an abnormal mammography,” said Shepherd.
While Shepherd and the Syantra team have worked with organizations around the world as they developed the breast cancer test, they have kept Alberta as their home base, where they see immense opportunity to grow as a healthcare company.
Shepherd attributes the best advice he has received to be from his partners right here in Alberta, especially around the work they are doing to commercialize their blood test and get it to market.
“We knew we needed advocates and partners to establish a successful test, and this informed how we targeted execution and development,” said Shepherd.
One such partner is the Alberta Cancer Foundation, which Shepherd calls a huge asset to the company, helping them deal with issues advocating for patients on care and diagnostic pathways. “They have a wealth of knowledge and have helped hit our biggest needs. It’s been a really great experience,” he said.
The Alberta Cancer Foundation is a partner on a grant Syantra received from the Alberta Innovates’ Alberta Small Business Innovation and Research Initiative (ASBIRI). This program has helped fund the many clinical studies required for something so complex. And while going through the testing and product development process, DynaLIFE Medical Labs has also been a key resource, helping to ensure Syantra’s tests meet deployment requirements for Alberta and across North America.
“Our science is novel: a crazy idea, plus years of work, and now almost a product for the public,” said Shepherd.
Their plan is to focus on Canadian delivery, first in Alberta, then Western Canada, and then across the rest of the country.
“This is homegrown technology that we want to keep here.” Shepherd says that their international experience has helped them see what is possible here in Calgary. “All lessons learned come back to Alberta.”
Syantra
Through their work with the NHS, they have seen how Manchester works as a biotech hub, with a lot of infrastructure available for companies to grow and influence to get innovation in place.
“We need to have resources here to make sure that products don’t have to leave,” said Shepherd.
Syantra is working with organizations like Calgary Economic Development and Thin Air Labs to create an entity that will support biotech work, and foster other companies, not only for early stage, but also commercializing companies. The University of Calgary’s Life Sciences Innovation Hub is a brilliant start, helping companies transition from academic to proof of concept.
“We are committed to being here and scaling here,” said Shepherd. “We want to set an example for other companies. And that is why we’ve helped create BioHubX in Calgary.”
WHAT’S NEXT
While their breast cancer diagnostic tool is ready for commercialization, the Syantra team is looking to further their research and move into screening environments to see how the blood test performs in parallel with mammography imaging. They are also looking to expand their data into different populations and hope to be able to add the blood test as part of detection protocols for them.
“When looking at tissue density, age, family history, menopause – there are lots of ways to stratify different groups. We want to generate data for as many of those groups as we can,” said Shepherd. “Our ultimate goal is to position the test to help determine next steps and have it in front of mammography in some ways.”
But as a scientist, Shepherd knows that to get there, they need to further build their research.
“It is a matter of getting data for regulatory approvals. We also need to engage with the clinical community and ensure their participation as we go along.”
Syantra’s aim is to have their blood test work in harmony with the imaging, adding value to the diagnostic pathway. Syantra is also setting their sights on how they can adapt their test for other cancers and are looking to develop tests for other cancers.
“We wanted to build our tool on a well-known platform so other labs can take it up, and we’ve packaged our test so that it will work with those workflows,” said Shepherd.
DynaLIFE helped audit Syantra’s test process to make it ready to hand off once it was ready for the market.
“It’s deceptively simple by design. The equipment and methodology can be used for other cancers. The test plate will change and so will the software. But the machinery and approach won’t.”
Part of the big picture future is the continued part they want to play in development of the Calgary BioHub.
“We have support from concept to product, but also initial funding to get off the ground,” said Shepherd. “There’s also lots of support through the provincial and federal governments. It is a significant initiative for the city, and more news on BioHubX will be coming soon.”
Citing the example of the Surrey Health and Technology District in Greater Vancouver, which has been running for a number of years, Shepherd notes the idea is to have the space, and then organize an entity to help integrate the local health and biotech industry with private and government initiatives. In the long term, such a model would not only encourage innovative companies to thrive here in Calgary, but it would also influence other health and biotech businesses to relocate to the city.
“There’s really no reason it won’t thrive if we get together as a community to create infrastructure and an integrated environment.”
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