{"id":438331,"date":"2026-08-20T12:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T12:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/438331\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T12:42:19","slug":"san-diego-biotechs-at-home-urine-test-aims-to-catch-cancer-early-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/438331\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego biotech\u2019s at-home urine test aims to catch cancer early \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Diego biotech firm Craif, which screens for cancer through at-home urine tests, received $33 million this week to strengthen its research and development for pancreatic cancer testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go to the doctor when we feel bad, but at that point it may be too late,\u201d said Ryuichi Onose, CEO of Craif, explaining how cancer screening \u2014 and diagnostics in general \u2014 is too invasive and infrequent. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re starting in the toilet,\u201d he said on Monday, the day before Craif announced its series D funding round.<\/p>\n

Hospitalization rates for pancreatic cancer ranged from 5.9 to 15.1 per 100,000 San Diego County residents, according to recent county health data<\/a>. The five-year survival rate for the disease is just 13% across all stages.<\/p>\n

Craif\u2019s at-home testing kit \u2014 which is currently on the market in Japan \u2014 also tests for 10 of the most common cancers, including breast, lung, stomach, colorectal, esophageal and ovarian cancer. The test, known as miSignal, is offered at more than 2,500 medical institutions and 4,500 pharmacies across Japan, with more than 110,000 tests performed to date.<\/p>\n

The testing kit arrives in the mail, Onose explained. The user scans the barcode, goes to the bathroom, seals the kit and waits for a courier to pick it up. \u201cSo you don\u2019t have to go even one step outside,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get the results back in two weeks, on your smartphone and also on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

The diagnostics kit is available on a subscription basis \u2014 four times a year, twice a year or once a year \u2014 starting at the equivalent of $500.<\/p>\n

The diagnostic technology works by testing microRNA \u2014 or miRNA \u2014 in urine. MicroRNA acts as a molecular messenger, sending signals to other cells. Cancerous cells, Onose says, are particularly tricky, because they spam the body with fraudulent miRNA messages to survive and grow.<\/p>\n

Cancerous cells \u201csend these microRNAs in your blood, and when the immune system tries to kill you, the microRNA says, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m not a bad cell, I\u2019m a healthy cell.\u2019 And they escape immune surveillance,\u201d he said, explaining how miRNA act in the body and show up in the urine.<\/p>\n

Cancerous cells emit 10 times more miRNA than healthy cells, which is what Craif\u2019s diagnostic kit tests for, he said.<\/p>\n

The accuracy of the tests is about 90% from stage one to four, according to a study from Analytical Chemistry<\/a>, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society.<\/p>\n

For now, Craif\u2019s U.S. ambitions are starting with pancreatic cancer, but it plans to grow its testing portfolio. For its testing kits to gain traction in the U.S. market, it\u2019s essential that the kit qualifies for reimbursement, Onose said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is a hard market, but an important one,\u201d Onose said, explaining that testing is difficult given the country\u2019s diverse population and circuitous healthcare system.<\/p>\n

In April, Onese and four other scientists moved to San Diego. The company signed a three-year lease in Sorrento Valley at 6370 Nancy Ridge Drive with an option to extend.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the Pacific, Craif has over 150 employees in its Tokyo office. The Japanese team already has a multi-cancer test on the market. The pancreatic cancer test is in the pipeline to be approved by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

For their U.S. effort, Craif is planning to enroll 10 to 20 top institutions \u2014 including the University of California San Diego \u2014 to start a clinical trial by the end of the year. Craif is aiming to launch its pancreatic cancer test in 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego biotech firm Craif, which screens for cancer through at-home urine tests, received $33 million this week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[19093,387,181,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-438331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-biotech","tag-business","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}