April 08, 2025 -- Castle Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTL), a company improving health through innovative tests that guide patient care, is supporting key educational programs and initiatives throughout the month of April in recognition of Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month. The Company is proudly collaborating with the Esophageal Cancer Action Network (ECAN), the American Foregut Society (AFS) and The Gut Doctor PodcastLLC to promote esophageal cancer prevention, education and advocacy.
“As esophageal cancer is often diagnosed in its late stages, its five-year survival rate remains alarmingly low at around 20%,”1 said Emmanuel Gorospe, M.D., board-certified gastroenterologist and medical director, gastroenterology, of Castle Biosciences. “This makes early detection and prevention critical. Through our collaboration with advocacy groups and the gastrointestinal (GI) community, we are committed to raising awareness of esophageal cancer risk factors and providing meaningful support to patients and healthcare professionals alike.”
Detection of esophageal cancer and its precursor, Barrett's esophagus (BE), presents significant challenges because the main symptoms — heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) —commonly occur in many less serious conditions that typically don't warrant concern. Doctors have very good methods to eliminate precancerous cells in BE patients at risk of developing cancer. The challenge, however, is finding which BE patients among the 1.5 million in the U.S. with the condition are in the 0.5% who will progress to cancer. TissueCypher® is Castle’s risk-stratification test for patients with BE designed to predict a patient’s individual risk of progression to high-grade dysplasia or esophageal cancer. Knowing which patients are likely to progress to cancer can help physicians treat them earlier, potentially creating an opportunity to save their lives.
Castle is collaborating with ECAN through a dedicated Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month sponsorship that encompasses a digital media campaign and awareness kits containing brochures, posters and wrist bands that will be distributed to ECAN supporters seeking to raise awareness about esophageal cancer. The media campaign will emphasize several key points: 1) the link between reflux and cancer, 2) esophageal cancer is preventable, and 3) new technology creates vast opportunities to save lives, particularly in the areas of screening/detection, risk stratification, diagnostics and treatment. Additionally, the campaign will focus on human interest stories featuring those who have been affected by esophageal cancer and experienced this alarming diagnosis.
“Awareness is key to ending this devastating disease that is the fastest increasing cancer diagnosis in American men today and has tripled among young people in recent decades,”2,3 said Mindy Mintz Mordecai, founder, president and chief executive officer of ECAN. “The heart of our mission at ECAN is to save lives, and we are grateful for the support of our corporate partners and our many supporters who help us carry out this mission through education, prevention and awareness initiatives.”
Castle teamed up with the American Foregut Society (AFS) for a special All Fore Guts! podcast episode, AFS Celebrates Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month — GET SCREENED, which launched April 1. Moderated by AFS President and Co-Founder Dan Lister, M.D., FACS, FAFS, the episode features a discussion with ECAN’s Mordecai and John C. Lipham, M.D., chairman of ECAN’s board of directors, chief of the division of upper GI and general surgery, and professor of surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, highlighting the importance of esophageal cancer screening. Listen to the episode on the American Foregut Society’s website or stream it on Spotify.
Hosted by Neil D. Parikh, M.D., a community gastroenterologist in Connecticut, The Gut Doctor Podcast provides general education around common gut-related topics through engaging conversations with gastroenterological specialists. For an April episode, Castle collaborated with Parikh and J. George Sun, M.D., a gastroenterologist with Digestive Health Associates in Houston, to discuss esophageal cancer, common risk factors and treatment to raise awareness around the disease. The episode will be available at The Gut Doctor Podcast and through major podcast streaming platforms.
The Esophageal Cancer Action Network (ECAN) is a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization supporting esophageal cancer patients and their families. ECAN started Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month in 2009 in support of its mission to save lives by 1) promoting early detection by increasing awareness about the link between reflux disease and cancer, 2) supporting medical innovation to prevent, detect, treat and cure esophageal cancer and 3) providing patients and families with the latest, most reliable medical information and compassionate support. ECAN’s relentless advocacy has increased the federal budget for Esophageal Cancer research by more than $20 million in the past four years, and millions more is expected in the years to come. Visit https://ecan.org/ for more information.
Hosted by the American Foregut Society (AFS), the All Fore Guts! Podcast brings gastroenterologists and surgeons together to discuss common foregut conditions. Episodes can be found on the AFS website or on Spotify. AFS is the only society where GIs and surgeons collaborate to personalize treatment and improve patient outcomes in foregut disease. Visit https://www.americanforegutsociety.org/ for more information.
The Gut Doctor Podcast is hosted by Neil D. Parikh, M.D., a community gastroenterologist in Connecticut, and discusses common gut topics in a patient-friendly manner. Dr. Parikh interviews fellow GI specialists to provide a better understanding for the general public and medical providers and also features episodes on food as medicine as the worlds of culinary medicine and gastrointestinal health intertwine. Access episodes online at https://thegutdoctor.buzzsprout.com/ and via various podcast streaming platforms.
Castle Biosciences (Nasdaq: CSTL) is a leading diagnostics company improving health through innovative tests that guide patient care. The Company aims to transform disease management by keeping people first: patients, clinicians, employees and investors.
Castle’s current portfolio consists of tests for skin cancers, Barrett’s esophagus, mental health conditions and uveal melanoma. Additionally, the Company has active research and development programs for tests in these and other diseases with high clinical need, including its test in development to help guide systemic therapy selection for patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis seeking biologic treatment. To learn more, please visit www.CastleBiosciences.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.
DecisionDx-Melanoma, DecisionDx-CMSeq, i31-SLNB, i31-ROR, DecisionDx-SCC, MyPath Melanoma, DiffDx-Melanoma, TissueCypher, IDgenetix, DecisionDx-UM, DecisionDx-PRAME and DecisionDx-UMSeq are trademarks of Castle Biosciences, Inc.
1. Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health); https://www.cancer.gov/pediatric-adult-rare-tumor/rare-tumors/rare-digestive-system-tumors/esophageal; accessed 3/26/25
2. Esophageal Cancer Action Network; https://ecan.org/; accessed 3/26/25
3. Mayo Clinic: Young-onset esophageal adenocarcinoma: Results from a population-based study; https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/digestive-diseases/news/young-onset-esophageal-adenocarcinoma-results-from-a-population-based-study/mac-20511018; accessed 3/26/25
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