New technology allows testing after biopsies using only tumor cells normally discarded as medical waste –- concept could spare some patients from chemotherapy 

Pocatello and Blackfoot, ID and La Jolla, CA — December 18, 2025 — Portneuf Medical Center, serving Southeastern Idaho, whose core mission is “World Class Care, Every patient, Every time,” and Bingham Memorial Hospital, one of the leading and award-winning healthcare providers in Eastern Idaho, along with Virchow Medical, Inc., the manufacturer of the Crow’s Nest® Biopsy Catchment System and operator of the Virchow Vault™ Liquid Specimen Biorepository, announced a step forward in the care of solid tumor cancer patients.  

Since June 2025, a select number of solid tumor cancer patients undergoing routine core needle biopsy procedures at Portneuf and Bingham have received a new additional benefit: The biopsy needles used in their procedures were not simply thrown away – but were instead placed in a Crow’s Nest Biopsy Catchment System.  The device is a way to collect the dislodged tumor cells that are normally lost as medical waste after a biopsy, and instead use them to make an additional high-quality specimen that can be utilized in follow-up molecular testing.  

Since many patients who undergo biopsy procedures later find out that the harvested piece of tissue is not large enough to run all the tests that the doctors want to run, having the additional specimen generated in this way, without taking anything additional from the patient, represents a new way to potentially improve the patient experience. Extracted DNA from salvaged cells may prevent the need for unnecessary and burdensome therapeutic procedures. Most oncologists would prefer that every biopsied patient has the advantage of genomics sequencing.  With this pilot program, the first in the Pacific Northwest, Portneuf and Bingham are leading the way toward addressing the shortage of biopsied tissue specimen supply at a time when demand for genomic tests is dramatically increasing.  

“We recognize that precision medicine is universally preferable to chemotherapy for our cancer patients,” said Jake Erickson, Chief Executive Officer of Bingham Healthcare.   “Our hospitals are early adopters of technology that has the potential to improve patient outcomes, especially technologies that can do that without taking anything additional from the patient.”

“We commend the pathologists, oncologists, and interventional radiologists at Portneuf Medical Center and Bingham Memorial Hospital,” said Alexander Arrow, MD, CEO of Virchow Medical, Inc. “We are honored to support their innovative clinical initiative, and supply devices that may improve outcomes by sparing more cancer patients from chemotherapy.” 

 

Extending Molecular Testing and Targeted Therapy to More Patients Through Integrated Technology

After generating the additional specimen from the residual cells that would normally have been wasted, the pathologists serving both hospitals have been routing the new specimens to be tested on an Idylla analyzer, supplied by Biocartis, NV.  In that way, genomic testing results can be available as soon as the same day as the biopsy procedure, potentially allowing some patients to begin targeted therapy immediately, instead of waiting the typical 3-10 days lab turnaround time.  Also, they can be re-tested for the benefit of the patients at any time thereafter because they are stored in the Virchow Vault™  a unique biobank that stores liquid specimens generated by users of the Crow’s Nest Biopsy Catchment System.

 

About Portneuf Hospital

Portneuf Health Partners brings together community leaders, our neighbors, and healthcare providers to deliver a higher standard of care and promote a healthier community for us all. Since 2009, the joint venture between Portneuf Health Trust and LHP Hospital Group has worked to build a robust network of healthcare providers. The partnership includes Portneuf Medical Center, Portneuf Quality Alliance, Portneuf Sports Medicine Institute and numerous physician practices. Over 15 organizations and hundreds of individuals are pitching in to help us reach our potential for high-quality care. All this hard work and ingenuity is making a difference. In just a few short years we’ve raised the level of our healthcare. We have a first-rate medical center, our own level II trauma center, and a wellness complex for anyone to enjoy. And we have a whole network of providers working together to care for our neighbors. For further information, visit https://www.portneuf.org/.

 

About Bingham Memorial Hospital

Bingham Memorial Hospital (BMH) is a non-profit, critical access hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho, serving eastern Idaho as part of the larger Bingham Healthcare network, offering comprehensive services from emergency care and surgery to rehab, focusing on compassionate, high-quality, community-centered care with a growing network of facilities and advanced technology. They aim to be a regional referral center known for excellence in surgical care, cancer treatment, and improving community health, guided by values like confidence, respect, and resourcefulness.  For further information, visit https://binghammemorial.org/.

 

About Virchow Medical, Inc.

Formerly known as Corramedical, Inc., Virchow’s mission is to unlock critical molecular data for every cancer patient and enable precision medicine to save more lives.  It does this by providing clinicians with the Crow’s Nest® Biopsy Catchment System, a tool designed to provide every biopsy patient the opportunity to be treated with precision medicine targeted therapy without the use of the patient’s tissue block. Physicians using the device after biopsy procedures make Liquid Companion Specimens (LCSs) from material that would have otherwise been wasted.  The LCSs are stored in a novel biorepository, the Virchow Vault™ to make them available for diagnostic testing any time after the biopsy. The company exists to enable healthcare providers and clinical laboratories to make use of all the cellular resources extracted from biopsy patients without exhausting the core tissue.  

For further information, visit www.virchowmed.com, and follow Virchow on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/virchowmed/

 

Virchow Medical is an EvoNexus portfolio company.

Crow’s Nest®, Virchow Vault™, Biopsy Catchment™, Cell Wrangler™, MOOS™, Precision Can’t Waste™, Sample Better™, The Waste is Over™, One Biopsy, Many Answers™, and Biopsy Specimen Stewardship™ are trademarks of Virchow Medical, f/k/a Corramedical, Inc. 

 

Press contacts: 

Portneuf Medical Center and Bingham Memorial Hospital
Mark Baker
Chief Administrative Officer
Bingham Healthcare
98 Poplar Street
Blackfoot, ID 83221
(208) 782-3762
mbaker@binghammemorial.org

 

Virchow Medical, Inc.

Nathan Edwards
Virchow Medical, Inc.
9191 Towne Centre Drive
Suite 150
La Jolla, CA 92122
+1-833-4-BIOPSY, ext. 1
info@virchowmed.com