Grail’s blood test charts path for di­ag­nos­ing pa­tients sus­pect­ed of hav­ing can­cer in large study: #AS­CO23

Grail’s vi­sion is sim­ple but bold. The blood test­ing com­pa­ny has long held that peo­ple are of­ten di­ag­nosed with can­cer too late. If seem­ing­ly healthy peo­ple were screened for ear­ly signs of the dis­ease be­fore symp­toms ap­pear, they may be able to get more ef­fec­tive treat­ments that nip can­cer in the bud.

That premise is the ba­sis of Grail’s com­mer­cial blood test, Gal­leri, which search­es for the ge­net­ic fin­ger­prints of can­cer in the blood. The test, launched in 2021, reaped $55 mil­lion in sales last year, but now the com­pa­ny is set­ting its sights on a new mar­ket: pa­tients sus­pect­ed of hav­ing can­cer due to symp­toms such as ab­dom­i­nal pain, rec­tal bleed­ing or un­ex­plained weight loss. Rather than ad­min­is­ter­ing ex­pen­sive scans or con­duct­ing in­va­sive biop­sies right away, Grail hopes doc­tors will con­sid­er a sim­ple blood test.

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