The company Grail has for several years been described as a potential breakthrough in early cancer diagnostics. With over 3 billion dollars in funding and backing from investors such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, their blood test, which costs around 1,000 USD, has sold roughly 150,000 units in the US over the past year.
The test is marketed as a method for detecting up to 50 different forms of cancer at an early stage through a simple blood sample.
At Executive Health, we have followed the development closely for several years and held discussions with the company about a possible future implementation in Europe. Our position, however, has been cautious. Two factors have been decisive in our assessment:
- The proportion of false positive findings has been significant.
- A large share of the cancers identified have been at late stages, which raises questions about the test's actual capacity for "early detection".
Earlier in February, new data were published from the large British NHS-Galleri study, a randomised controlled trial with around 142,000 participants aged 50 to 77 who were followed for three years. The study did not reach its primary goal of reducing the proportion of late-stage cancer diagnoses in the broad population. The share price fell nearly 50% after the announcement.
Innovation in cancer diagnostics is essential and we follow the field closely. But for now, advanced imaging, in particular MRI, remains the gold standard for structured and early cancer detection in a clinical setting.
