A new blood-testing technology that can detect up to 50 types of cancers will be made available in the United States by the end of the year. The new test tool, known as Galleri blood test, was developed by GRAIL, a California-based biotechnology company.
The test tool can detect 50 different types of cancers including pancreatic, ovarian, and esophageal via a simple blood test Dailymail.co.uk reported.
The Galleri test, the company also added requires two tubes of a patient’s blood.The company also added that it can take up to ten days of laboratory analysis for a person to get their results.
Speaking on the science behind the innovation, the senior medical science liaison at GRAIL, Dr. Julia Feygin said, “We can find and sequence these tiny bits of tumour-derived DNA in the blood and based on the patterns we see we can reveal if there is a signal for cancer present.”
She added that it can predict with very high accuracy where the cancer signal is coming from in the body.
She added that it can predict with very high accuracy where the cancer signal is coming from in the body.
The test has been hailed by experts as a game-changer that can potentially save the lives of millions of people through an early cancer diagnosis.
The Galleri test showed promise in clinical trials, according to GRAIL, the biotech company.
The company added that this new testing technique will not replace going for regular screening but instead, it should be paired with regular screening
A study conducted by the Mayo Clinic using the new test tool that included 6,600 participants found 29 people with a cancer case they previously did not know about.
The test was found to only have a one percent false-positivity rate.
It is, however, yet to receive FDA approval.