Oral cancer is a growing concern in the U.S., and there is currently a gap in the market for an effective screening device.
OraLiva, founded by John McDevitt, PhD, is working to fill that gap to aid in the early detection of oral cavity cancer. About 10% of the 250 million adults in the U.S. have an oral lesion at a given time, and the vast majority of adults who get oral cavity cancer will have had an oral lesion at some point.
OraLiva is a screening device and diagnostic platform that is powered by a microfluidic engine that processes cells to make a diagnosis.
In the past, there has not been as much of an emphasis on the development of dental diagnostic devices and tools compared to the medical field, Dr. McDevitt said. With the increased push toward more integrated medical and dental care, the space between the two professions could begin closing.
"Oral cavity cancer often starts as a dental problem, as an oral lesion in someone's mouth, but once it begins to convert into something that looks like an oral cavity cancer, it becomes a medical problem," Dr. McDevitt told Becker's. "There is more focus on oral and systemic health now, but that medical and dental integration is another gap, and the lack of fluid care moving between those two is one of the major gaps in this particular space."
AI has had a significant impact on the dental industry in 2024 and OraLiva has leveraged AI to make its technology more dentist-friendly.
"We started our study with about 200 variables, ran them through them into AI and got the best diagnostic model, but it didn't have the intuitive connection to practicing a dentist," Dr. McDevitt said. "We've since gone back, created these five cell phenotypes and those now become like little gauges in the report that we provide back to clinicians with a numerical index, and that single numerical index monitors the oral lesion disease severity like a thermometer for cancer."
OraLiva is a few months away from reaching the finish line, with the plans of launching the product in early 2025. In a few years, Dr. McDevitt hopes that OraLiva's detection technology will be able to impact millions of lives.
"Five years from now, I think we will be a dominant player in oral lesion management, by empowering different dental and medical providers to have a tool so that they're not necessarily only worrying about oral cavity cancer, but they're working on preventative care for benign lesions," Dr. McDevitt said. "The focus is on early disease detection, and if we're super successful, we're saving 85% of lives in this area."