Developments in Cancer Diagnosis/Screening

[ExFlyBoy5]

An acquaintance of mine was telling about an FTC action in regards to a proposed merger. While the FTC action isn't very exciting, what IS exciting is that there is one company that is on the cusp of getting FDA approval for an advanced method of detecting cancer from dead cells that have been "shed" and can be detected by advanced DNA screening. I won't get into the specifics, but basically...a simple blood draw (or as they call it, a liquid biopsy) can detect up to 50 types of cancer and can often tell where it is. This is an amazing discovery and could be something that is a real game changer in cancer detection.

Currently, it's a private company (big investors include Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates).

It appears that you can get a test through your doctor (don't know if/what restrictions there might be) and it costs in the neighborhood of $950-1000 for the test.

There are other companies working on a similar test, but they seem to be in the running for the first FDA approval.

I am debating on asking my MD about this test *before* it gets approval. If/when it gets approval, I would guess it will be a very popular test and demand could make getting it in a timely manner questionable.

A couple of articles for further reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRAIL_(company)

https://grail.com/our-products

https://www.galleri.com/uploads/downloads/Galleri-Cancers-Detected-Chart_0323.pdf

Their liquid biopsy, still undergoing research as of November 2020 and called the 'Galleri test', detects fragments of DNA in a blood sample via next-generation sequencing, which identifies DNA methylation, distinct patterns of which are associated with particular cancers, potentially allowing for the early detection of cancer and providing information of the origin of the cancer. It is one of three multicancer screening tests under investigation; the other two being the CancerSEEK assay and the PanSeer assay.

 

[SeanPizzle]

Rapid diagnosis of disease from a simple bloodtest? Theranos comes to mind

 

[CaptTom]

The reason Theranos fooled so many people is that at first it didn't seem as far-fetched as it does now, in retrospect. No doubt there will be all kinds of new technology developed around diagnostic tests. The reality is medicine today is pretty primitive, compared to what's theoretically possible.

None of this drives my investment decisions. Slow and steady is more my thing. But I'm sure if you bet on enough of these "on the cusp" technologies, one will eventually pay out. Maybe even enough to make up for a bunch of duds, and outright frauds like Theranos.

And, by all means, I'll be in line to take advantage of any medical technologies which do turn out to be helpful. But it'll be as a patient, not an investor.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Rapid diagnosis of disease from a simple bloodtest? Theranos comes to mind

That was a scam. This is not.