Promoting NPC Awareness across the City

Advancing the Healthcare Industry with Innovative Cancer Screening Solutions

Joining Hands with Bowtie to Sponsor the Take2 Prophecy™ Test for Nasopharyngeal Cancer to the High-risk Group

One mission of Take2 Health is to provide individuals with a second chance in health management through early detection. With our cutting-edge technologies and professional knowledge, we are dedicated to empowering people to take back control of their health with actionable insights, meanwhile encouraging the public to understand the importance and benefits of early cancer detection. Cancer has been the “top killer” in Hong Kong and even across the globe for long. Among numerous types of cancers, we understand that nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is most prevalent in the southern part of China and the ASEAN countries, while the incidence rate in Hong Kong is 5 to 6 times the world’s average¹˒².

Furthermore, this malignant disease peaks in middle age, and it is more common for men, with an incidence rate three times higher than women; that is, male patients account for nearly 75% of the NPC patients³. According to the statistics from Hong Kong Cancer Registry, Hospital Authority, NPC is the fifth most common cancer for men aged between 45-64⁴. All in all, it has come to our concern that men who fall within this age range have higher risks of developing NPC.

Therefore, we are determined to team up with Bowtie, Hong Kong’s very first virtual insurer, reflecting our aligned vision for bringing disruptive innovation to healthcare management to improve people’s quality of life. Under this collaboration, Bowtie will sponsor the Take2 Prophecy™ Test for NPC to 1,300 selected life insurance clients aged between 40 and 60 years old. This initiative will make our early detection technology for NPC widely accessible to those who need it most.

Historical clinical data have shown that 70-80% of unscreened patients were diagnosed with NPC at stage 3 or 4 (which are classified as late stages)³, causing NPC a deadly disease. As a result, patients may not only bear the heavy medical expenses, but also suffer from the treatments’ side effects. On the other hand, the disease also impacts the patients’ families, including but not limited to the loss of financial support and psychological shock.

In comparison, 70% of screened patients were identified with NPC at the early-stage (stages 1 and 2), with a 5-year survival rate higher than 90%⁵.

Riding on this successful collaboration, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to and work towards raising awareness and promoting the importance of early NPC detection. Thus, encouraging the public to stay vigilant, take action, and conduct regular screening, making cancer no longer an “incurable disease”.

About the Take2 Prophecy™ Test for NPC

Take2 Prophecy™ Test for Nasopharyngeal Cancer (NPC) utilises Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) technology, which achieves > 97% sensitivity⁵˒⁶ and 0.7% remarkably low false-positive rate⁶. Providing accurate and reliable results, the Take2 Prophecy™ Test for NPC ranks at the top over other similar tests. It only requires a blood draw to effectively identify early-stage NPC patients.

The test is suitable for individuals who intend to do routine check-ups, who are asymptomatic and those with suspected symptoms.

Key features of Take2 Prophecy™ Test for NPC:

• Utilising Next-generation Sequencing technology
• Achieving sensitivity > 97%⁵˒⁶ with a remarkably low false-positive rate (0.7%⁶)
• Developed by CUHK’s world-class research team
• Being clinically proven by thousands of individuals⁵, the results have been published in international medical journals
• Blood-drawing only, non-invasive, and minimal risk
• Results will be ready soonest in 3 working days

About Take2 Health

Take2 is a healthcare start-up which explores, invents, and builds empowering platforms to harness the power of biomedical sciences and informatics to deliver better healthcare solutions to individuals and communities with actionable information and results. Headquartered in Hong Kong, China, Take2 aims to be a key driver that makes the most disruptive healthcare inventions widely accessible to the public in China and Asia.

For more information, visit: https://take2health.net/.

References

1 “Nasopharyngeal Cancer.” Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2021, www.chp.gov.hk/en/healthtopics/content/25/54.html, accessed 23 July 2021.

2 Bray, F., et al. “Global Cancer Statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries.” CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, vol. 68, no. 6, 2018, pp. 394-424.

3 Nasopharyngeal Cancer in 2019. Hong Kong Cancer Registry. Hong Kong Hospital Authority, October 2021.

4 Overview of Hong Kong Cancer Statistics of 2019. Hong Kong Cancer Registry. Hong Kong Hospital Authority, October 2021.

5 Chan, K. C. Allen, et al. “Analysis of Plasma Epstein–Barr Virus DNA to Screen for Nasopharyngeal Cancer.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 377, no. 6, 2017, pp. 513–22.

6 Lam, W. K. Jacky, et al. “Sequencing-Based Counting and Size Profiling of Plasma Epstein–Barr Virus DNA Enhance Population Screening of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115, no. 22, 2018, pp. E5115–24.