Human Practices

Cancer: A Global Issue

Cancer is one of the world’s most serious health issues. According to the World Health Organization, in 2022 there were an estimated 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million deaths.

Cancer death

Cancer is especially prevalent in developed countries, where other causes of death—such as infectious diseases and maternal mortality—have been significantly reduced. Throughout our project, we aimed to increase the accessibility of cancer diagnosis and expand the goals of healthy living for various groups of people.

Lung Cancer: A Leading Cause of Death

Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, with 2.5 million new cases accounting for 12.4% of the total. It is also the leading cause of cancer deaths, with 1.8 million deaths (18.7% of the total).

A global survey by the WHO revealed significant inequities in cancer services. Lung cancer-related services are 4–7 times more likely to be included in healthcare benefit packages (HBPs) in high-income countries than in lower-income countries. For some services, like stem-cell transplantation, the disparity is even wider—12 times more likely to be covered in high-income countries.

Global Impact of Our Project

Our project seeks to address these disparities by providing simple, cheap, fast, and non-invasive cancer diagnostic tools. This is particularly crucial for low-income regions, rural areas, and healthcare systems with limited resources.

Developing Countries

Sub-Saharan Africa: Many countries face challenges accessing advanced diagnostics due to limited healthcare infrastructure. A more accessible diagnostic kit would greatly enhance cancer detection.
South Asia: Countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have large populations with limited access to high-end medical facilities.

“Countries in the WHO African region had an estimated 811,200 new cancer cases (4.5% of the world population) and 534,000 cancer deaths (7.3% of the total world) in 2018.” [1]

Remote and Rural Areas

Rural China and India: Many areas lack advanced diagnostic facilities.
Latin America: Countries like Brazil, Peru, and Colombia face difficulties in gathering data, as only 20% of people lived in areas with a population-based cancer registry in 2014.

Low-Income Urban Areas

Urban Slums: Cities like Nairobi, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro face significant income disparities. Low-cost diagnostic options can improve healthcare access for underprivileged communities.

Healthcare Systems with Limited Resources

Southeast Asia: Countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam have growing healthcare needs, but limited access to advanced diagnostics.
Eastern Europe: Nations with transitioning economies, such as Ukraine and Belarus, could benefit from affordable, effective cancer diagnostics.

To ensure that our diagnostic tool can reach patients globally, we conducted extensive research into major medical distributors and pharmaceutical networks across different regions.

In South Africa, UPD stands out as the nation’s only full-line wholesaler with five distribution centers and a 25% share of the private pharmaceutical market, offering extensive reach through its logistics infrastructure.

Across Southeast Asia, idsMED represents over 200 global medical brands and specializes in distributing medical instruments and screening tools—making it a key potential partner for accessibility in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

In China, Sinopharm, a state-owned enterprise and one of the world’s largest healthcare distributors, offers a robust national network and experience in vaccine and diagnostic deployment, reinforced by its collaboration with Pfizer.

For Latin America, companies such as BIO/DATA Corp. and Aché Laboratories provide strong technological and pharmaceutical distribution channels, serving multiple countries across the region.

Meanwhile, Deepa Pharma and Medimoc Group enable access across Africa and the Middle East, supporting both public and private healthcare systems.

In Europe and North America, Licentis Pharma and DKSH offer specialized hospital distribution services and comply with stringent regulatory frameworks such as SwissMedic—an essential consideration for future device registration and approval.

By mapping these key distribution partners, our team identified reliable channels that could facilitate the delivery of affordable, rapid diagnostic tools worldwide, especially in regions where healthcare accessibility remains limited. This global perspective ensures that our innovation is not only scientifically sound but also practically deployable, bridging the gap between laboratory research and real-world medical impact.

Sustainable Development Goals

Aptagenix primarily addresses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Good Health and Well-Being, which seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. By enabling early detection of cancer through a simple, low-cost, and low equipment diagnostic method, our project supports this goal by improving access to quick healthcare, potentially increasing survival rates worldwide.

Our innovation also aligns with SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure by advancing affordable diagnostic tools, and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, as it aims to make advanced diagnostics accessible in low-resource settings.

Scientists working in molecular diagnostics, oncology, biotechnology, and public health can benefit from and contribute. Researchers developing point-of-care devices, molecular amplification methods, or biosensor technologies can collaborate with us to adapt the detection system to new biomarkers or expand its use to other diseases.

Our ultimate goal is to streamline cancer detection—making it faster, cheaper, and more accessible. We envision a future where early diagnosis is available to everyone, regardless of location or socioeconomic status, leading to better treatment outcomes, reduced healthcare burdens, and a more equitable global health landscape.

Meeting with Experts

Dr.Jonathan Ferguson

Our team had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Jonathan Ferguson, a cardiothoracic surgeon actively involved in improving the early diagnosis of lung cancer. Dr. Ferguson is also passionate about science education and has contributed to innovative outreach projects, such as one using Minecraft to teach medical concepts.

During our discussion, we gained valuable insight into point-of-care testing (POCT) and the key components of an effective screening program, as outlined by the NHS. We concluded that for our kit to achieve broad real-world impact, it must be sensitive, specific, affordable, and socially acceptable.

Dr. Ferguson emphasized the importance of selecting diseases where early detection has the greatest impact. With this in mind, we ensured our kit targets cancers that are both common and responsive to early diagnosis, focusing on non-small cell lung cancer. He also highlighted a critical statistic: every week a patient remains undiagnosed after five years, their mortality rate increases by approximately 1.4%. Frequent and accessible testing could prevent such delays, improving patient outcomes dramatically.

We concluded that the ideal period for administering our tests would be once every two years. As the current standard is to take CT scans within this period—which is much more costly and can cause “overtreating.” Within his personal project Dr. Ferguson noted that it took them 30,000 CT scans to find 360 lung cancers. With our diagnostic kit we aim to reduce this value by having a preliminary screening increasing the ratio of cancers found per CT scan administered.

We concluded that the ideal testing frequency of administering our test is once every two years, aligning with current CT scan guidelines but offering a far more cost-effective option. Dr. Ferguson noted that, in his own work, it took 30,000 CT scans to detect 360 cases of lung cancer. Our goal is to improve this ratio by introducing our kit as a preliminary screening tool, thereby reducing unnecessary scans while identifying more cancers earlier.

Finally, Dr. Ferguson encouraged us to explore intellectual property protection for our design. After careful consideration, we decided to make our work open-source, ensuring that our innovation remains accessible for maximum global impact.

Patent Interview

Due to the unique nature of our project, we were advised to seek information about a potential IP patent. After organizing and having a meeting with a professional patent lawyer, we decided that it was wise not to pursue a patent. We did not have enough time to properly file an application, and because of the public nature of the competition, we could not compete and file for a patent.

Had we explored this interest further, the outcome may have been different. For our team, it was more important to benefit the synthetic biology community by publishing this project for another to potentially continue, rather than profiting off of protecting it.

Conclusion

It is crucial for people to be diagnosed as early as possible to receive timely treatment. Early diagnosis makes cancer easier to combat and control. Our project aims to provide simple, cheap, fast, and non-invasive cancer diagnosis, without the need for expensive equipment like CT scans.

This makes our solution applicable anywhere in the world, particularly in underserved and impoverished areas.

Bibliography

Olabode Omotoso, et al. “Addressing Cancer Care Inequities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Current Challenges and Proposed Solutions.” International Journal for Equity in Health, vol. 22, no. 1, 11 Sept. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01962-y.
CANCER CONTROL, ACCESS and INEQUALITY in LATIN AMERICA: A Tale of Light and Shadow.
Rose, Nicole, et al. “Disparities in Access to Cancer Diagnostics in ASEAN Member Countries.” The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, vol. 32, 1 Mar. 2023, pp. 100667–100667, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100667.
“Cancer Today.” GCO.IARC, https://gco.iarc.fr/today. Accessed 2 June 2024.

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