ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Cancer care’s unique dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic have affected medical device and diagnostics companies in multiple ways. A decline in routine screening has hurt follow-up care, but some innovative devices that treat the most aggressive cancers are booming. We look at the pandemic’s impact on Novocure and Veracyte.
Cancer care is not elective, but even it has been impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown, particularly by reduced demand for diagnostic and screening workups that are necessary precursors of treatment and, also, by restricted access to hospitals. Hoped-for efforts to catch up are anticipated for later this year as society re-opens but will not completely offset the absolute losses in procedure volume. Delays in initiation into therapy and clinical trial enrollment are likely to have long-term health ramifications—although those may not be apparent for some time.
