FDA approves Guardant’s colorectal cancer screening test in major step ahead of liquid biopsy

TThe Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a blood test intended to detect colon cancer, a product that many experts hope will help detect cases of the disease early enough so they can be more easily treated.

The test, called Shield and made by Guardant Health, a Palo Alto, California-based biotech company, has a drawback: It is not as good as a colonoscopy and other tests at detecting precancerous or early cancers. But some experts have welcomed it as a way to address another problem: As effective as colonoscopy is as a way to detect cancer and remove lesions that could later become cancerous, many people are unwilling to undergo the procedure. to undergo.

Colon cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in the US and the second leading cause of cancer death. But data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that not only do people often not get colonoscopies on time, but one in five eligible adults is never screened for colon cancer.