Guardant Health specializes in advanced cancer diagnostics through liquid biopsies and genomic testing.
What personally motivated you to co-found Guardant Health?
The motivation for co-founding Guardant Health stemmed from witnessing the evolution of genome sequencing capabilities and realizing their potential impact on human health. My involvement in projects aimed at reducing the cost of genome sequencing, including the Human Genome Project at Stanford and initiatives to achieve more affordable genome sequencing costs, highlighted the opportunities for innovation in this space. Our goal shifted from merely advancing sequencing technology to leveraging these advancements to address pressing health issues, particularly in the context of cancer, a disease deeply connected to the genome.
My personal health challenges, mistakenly feared to be cancer, further fueled this motivation. The diagnostic odyssey I underwent underscored the gap in effective tools for physicians, emphasizing the need for better diagnostics. This experience, combined with the realization that genomic understanding alone was not enough to revolutionize healthcare, led to the founding of Guardant Health. We aimed to transform cancer care by making genome sequencing a cornerstone of early detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
Could you introduce us to the types of tests Guardant Health offers?
Guardant Health has developed a portfolio of tests that revolutionize cancer care, beginning with Guardant360, the world’s first FDA-approved liquid biopsy for therapy selection in advanced-stage cancer patients.
This innovation enables the identification of suitable drugs for patients without invasive tissue biopsies, utilizing blood tests to detect tumor DNA. This approach significantly improves the process of matching patients with effective therapies based on the genetic profile of their cancer.
Additionally, we offer tests for monitoring cancer recurrence in survivors, aimed at detecting early signs of the disease's return. Our latest advancement is in early cancer detection, exemplified by our Shield test for colorectal cancer. This test represents a major leap forward, addressing the compliance gap in existing screening methods with a simple blood test. Our portfolio spans from therapy selection and recurrence monitoring to groundbreaking early detection, showcasing our commitment to leveraging genomic insights to improve patient outcomes across the cancer care continuum.
Does your cancer recurrence test rely on the detection of minimal residual disease (MRD)? If so, how does Guardant Health's approach differ from others who are also active in the MRD space?
Yes, our Guardant Reveal test relies on the concept of MRD to identify any remaining cancer post-treatment. This is crucial for detecting whether cancer has metastasized or remains unseen within the body. Our unique approach allows us to perform this analysis solely based on blood samples, without needing a physical tumor specimen. This blood-only solution is especially valuable for the millions of cancer survivors whose tumor samples might not be readily available, offering a significant advantage over other methods that require tissue specimens for analysis.
What types of cancer can your tests detect?
Our tests can detect a wide range of solid tumors, including breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancers, among others. Initially, our MRD tests have been launched for breast, colon, and lung cancer, which represent the largest patient populations. Plans are in place to expand this to all solid tumors in the coming years, demonstrating our commitment to broadening the impact of our technology across various types of cancer.
Could you elaborate on the significance of the recent study published about the Shield test for early detection of colorectal cancer?
Our ECLIPSE study marks a significant breakthrough in colorectal cancer screening, primarily by addressing the issue of compliance with existing screening methods. The high compliance rate observed with blood tests, as opposed to the lower rates with colonoscopies and stool tests, indicates a paradigm shift in screening approaches. The ability of our blood test to detect 83% of cancers that a colonoscopy can, with sensitivity rates comparable to or better than current modalities, underscores its potential to dramatically reduce mortality rates from colorectal cancer. This advancement not only signifies a major leap in early cancer detection, but also represents one of the most significant reductions in cancer mortality in the past decade, illustrating the transformative impact of our work at Guardant Health.
How do you envisage the relationship between the Shield test and traditional colonoscopies, given that the Shield test may still miss 17% of cases?
The Shield test complements colonoscopies by offering an alternative with significantly higher compliance, despite not reaching 100% sensitivity. Colonoscopies have about 43% compliance and, although they can be therapeutic, a test like Shield with over 90% compliance and 83% sensitivity can potentially save more lives. The goal is to balance the strengths of both tests: Shield’s high compliance rate for early detection and colonoscopy's therapeutic capability for cases identified as needing further intervention.
What advancements can we expect from Guardant Health in the future?
Guardant Health is actively working toward expanding the capabilities of the Shield test to detect a broad spectrum of cancers. This expansion is based on regulatory approvals and clinical validation for each cancer type, utilizing the existing chemistry of the test. The potential to include other diseases beyond cancer through epigenomic-based technologies also represents an exciting frontier for the company, with the possibility of detecting conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, and more, significantly broadening the scope of early disease detection.
How does Guardant Health's collaboration with pharmaceutical companies help them enroll patients in clinical trials?
Guardant Health's collaborations primarily focus on enrolling patients for cancer therapy trials, streamlining the process by identifying eligible patients through blood tests rather than invasive biopsies. This not only accelerates patient enrollment and drug commercialization, but also aids in companion diagnostics and drug discovery. By analyzing blood samples from various trials, Guardant Health can provide insights into cancer evolution and response to treatment, assisting pharmaceutical companies in developing more effective drugs.
Looking three years into the future, what do you hope to achieve in Guardant Health?
In three years, Guardant Health aims to significantly expand its impact on cancer care, moving from aiding hundreds of thousands of patients to potentially millions. With the Shield test and other diagnostics, the goal is to cover a broad spectrum of the population, from late-stage cancer patients to the average risk individuals for early detection, thereby changing the trajectory of cancer care by facilitating early detection, treatment, and potentially prevention of the disease across a wider demographic.
