Product Development

Mapping opportunities for China’s early cancer detection boom 

How Chinese companies developing liquid biopsies for cancer are approaching the potentially massive market

How Chinese companies developing liquid biopsies for cancer are approaching the potentially massive market.

As investor enthusiasm for blood-based cancer screening soars in the wake of Grail’s $8 billion acquisition,  much of the activity is taking place in China, where a short list of dominant cancers, out-of-pocket spending habits and alignment with national priorities present big opportunities for test developers.

So far, no Chinese company has towered over the conversation the way Grail Inc. has in the U.S. via its aim to detect more than 50 different cancer types, its nearly $1.7 billion in venture funding and its lucrative Sept. 21 takeout by Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN).

Grail plans to launch a laboratory developed test (LDT) in the U.S. in 2021, and leads among at least seven U.S. competitors, including  Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:EXAS), whose stock jumped 27% to $94.04 on the Sept. 24 news that the screening company, which markets the stool biopsy-based test Cologuard for colorectal cancer,  was developing a blood-based multicancer test.

In China, such tests are already on the market, and patients have shown willingness