Sponsored Insight
For decades, doctors and patients have been calling for a major cancer breakthrough. Could this multi-cancer early detection test be the innovation they’ve been demanding?
Cancer has been around for thousands of years. The first description of cancer, although it didn’t have a name, was discovered on a papyrus scroll in ancient Egypt, around 3000 BC. The disease was described as having “no treatment.”
While treatment methods have improved in the past 5,000 years, there is still no cure. Today, cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. and about to become the first, largely because most cancers are found too late. Projected statistics show that 1 in 3 women, and 1 in 2 men, will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime.
Currently, early-screening tests are only available for five types of cancer, and each of these tests only screens for one type of cancer at a time. But what about the dozens of other cancers that have no screening tests and aren’t typically detected until they’ve advanced and spread? When these cancers are detected in late stages, treatment options — and the likelihood of survival — are drastically reduced.
Guideline-recommended screening tests are critical and save lives, however approximately 71% of all cancer deaths are caused by cancers that lack routine recommended screening today, and new tests are needed that can effectively detect multiple types of cancer in early stages, when it can be cured.
Now there’s a breakthrough on the horizon and all it takes is a simple blood draw. This game-changing technology could help detect multiple types of cancer that aren’t commonly screened for today.
The GalleriTM Multi-Cancer Early Detection Test can detect more than 50 types of cancer, potentially early enough to make a life-changing difference. The test’s performance is supported by large clinical studies that include more than 20,000 participants from diverse backgrounds.
So how does it work? All cells — including cancer cells — shed fragments of DNA into the bloodstream. Galleri uses the power of next-generation sequencing and machine-learning algorithms to detect and localize these small amounts of circulating cell-free DNA in the blood.
With this approach, Galleri can not only detect cancer signals in the blood, but predict the cancer signal origin, or where the cancer signal may be coming from in the body, to guide a diagnostic evaluation.
The Galleri test, which requires a prescription, does not detect all cancers and should be used in addition to guideline-recommended cancer screening, such as mammography, colonoscopy, prostate specific antigen (PSA), or cervical cancer screening. Galleri is recommended for use in adults with an elevated risk of cancer, such as those aged 50 or older. A simple blood draw is all that is needed from the patient to conduct the test.
Galleri strives to transform cancer care by detecting 50+ cancers at earlier stages, when treatment is more likely to be effective. Galleri is now available by prescription, initially through select partner health systems, medical practices, and self-insured employers. For more details, visit www.galleri.com. For full safety information, click here.