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Getting screened for cancer is daunting and scary. You know what would make it less daunting and scary? If dogs were involved. At SpotitEarly, a cancer diagnostic startup based in Englewood, dogs are very involved.

Most readers will be familiar with some of the stories about dogs’ remarkable abilities — many relating to their sense of smell. It’s how dogs mainly experience the world. And humans have put that ability to work, asking canines to sniff out illegal drugs and explosives as well as helping to find victims of disasters. Dogs can also “smell” certain diseases in humans — including cancer.

SpotitEarly uses dogs to diagnose four common types of cancer: lung, breast, colorectal and prostate. When the system is operational, patients will provide a breath sample that the company’s dogs will smell. The animals’ behavior lets the testers know whether the cancer is present.

And they are apparently pretty good at it. According to SpotitEarly, “The Rainbow Study, a large-scale observational double blind clinical performance trial, measured the effectiveness and accuracy of SpotitEarly’s breath test in detecting the four most common types of cancer at various stages, using breath samples.” In the study, the dogs scored 93.9% on sensitivity and 94.3% on specificity for the four types.

In this edition of NJBIZ Conversations, SpotitEarly CEO Shlomi Madar, fresh off an appearance at BioNJ‘s BioPartnering Conference in Jersey City, elaborates on the company’s technology and where it goes from here.

To watch the interview, click on the video below:

To listen instead, click on the podcast below: