How Liquid Biopsy Is Bringing Earlier Cancer Detection to the Horizon
While much of the healthcare industry’s attention over the past two years has been fixated on delivering vaccinations and remedies for Covid, researchers have been quietly focused on another important innovation aimed at effectively detecting and monitoring cancer. Too often, cancer goes undetected until it has progressed to an advanced, less treatable stage. That reality is changing thanks to liquid biopsy, a transformative and non-invasive approach that will help detect cancer at an early stage to optimize treatment selection.
Source: ROBO Global Research
A convergence of genomics and AI technology has made this approach to detecting DNA traces of cancerous cells in the bloodstream feasible, cost-effective, and scalable—a combination that promises to make cancer screening a routine part of preventive medicine.
STEP 1: DETECT
Liquid biopsy is useful at numerous stages of a patient's journey. First, it finds any trace of cancer in the blood. Then, if cancer is detected, genomic profiling and other risk factors are taken into consideration to determine an appropriate treatment. For many cancers, early-stage detection is one of the biggest factors of survivability, quality of life, and costs.
- Illumina (HTEC, THNQ & ROBO: ILMN) is the pioneer and market leader in next-generation DNA sequencing and is seeing rapidly increasing utilization of its instruments in oncology. Illumina is in the process of acquiring GRAIL, a biotech company that has developed the Galleri test to detect multiple types of cancers through a single blood draw, many of which cannot be detected through existing screening techniques.
STEP 2: DETERMINE
Innovation in cancer and disease treatment, such as precision medicine, continues to advance and gain federal approvals. As not all treatments are appropriate for certain genetic makeups and health histories, precision therapies facilitate catered treatment plans dependent on the specific patient. Using a companion diagnostics (CDx) liquid biopsy, physicians can now determine the most effective drug therapy on a patient-to-patient basis and then monitor how each treatment protocol is performing, rather than having to simply “wait and see.”
- Guardant Health (HTEC: GH) has performed more than 300,000 tests and received additional FDA clearance in August 2022 for its Guardant360 CDx—a liquid biopsy test that has the potential to help customize and optimize treatment for cancer patients. The test supports drug selection for non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer today, collectively representing ~82% of cancer deaths worldwide.
STEP 3: MONITOR
For many cancer survivors, the risk of recurrence is high, making it vital to monitor the presence of cancer in the body following treatment. Liquid biopsy supports this effort through a process known as Immunotherapy (IO) Response Monitoring or Minimal Residual Disease (MRD). One of the many benefits of this technology is reducing unnecessary treatments, such as chemotherapy, when MRD is no longer detected.
- Natera (HTEC: NTRA) specializes in this area. Its Signatera patient IO monitoring device checks for the presence of MRD in cancer patients to determine if they are remaining cancer-free throughout immunotherapy.
As innovation across healthcare continues to occur, we believe that investors should look to the companies developing the technologies required to make these pipedreams a reality. There is still much room for transformation in the medical space, which is why we created the ROBO Global Healthcare Technology & Innovation ETF to capture the potential growth to come. Learn more about the HTEC ETF here.
ROBO Top Ten Holdings, HTEC Top Ten Holdings, THNQ Top Ten Holdings
Holdings are subject to change.
Carefully consider the Funds’ investment objectives, risk factors, charges and expenses before investing. This and additional information can be found on the Funds' full or summary prospectuses, which may be obtained at www.roboglobaletfs.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. International investments may also involve risk from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, differences in generally accepted accounting principles, and from economic or political instability. Emerging markets involve heightened risks related to the same factors as well as increased volatility and lower trading volume. Narrowly focused investments and investments in smaller companies typically exhibit higher volatility. There is no guarantee the funds will achieve their stated objective. ROBO, HTEC, and THNQ are non-diversified.
The liquidity of the A-shares market and trading prices of A-shares could be more severely affected than the liquidity and trading prices of other markets because the Chinese government restricts the flow of capital into and out of the A-shares market. The funds may experience losses due to illiquidity of the Chinese securities markets or delay or disruption in execution or settlement of trades.
The risks associated with investments in Robotics and Automation Companies include, but are not limited to, small or limited markets for such securities, changes in business cycles, world economic growth, technological progress, rapid obsolescence, and government regulation. Robotics and Automation Companies, especially smaller, start-up companies, tend to be more volatile than securities of companies that do not rely heavily on technology. Rapid change to technologies that affect a company's products could have a material adverse effect on such company's operating results. Robotics and Automation Companies may rely on a combination of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret laws to establish and protect their proprietary rights in their products and technologies. There can be no assurance that the steps taken by these companies to protect their proprietary rights will be adequate to prevent the misappropriation of their technology or that competitors will not independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to such companies' technology.
The risks associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) Companies include, but are not limited to, small or limited markets, changes in business cycles, world economic growth, technological progress, rapid obsolescence, and government regulation. Rapid change to technologies that affect a company’s products could have a material adverse effect on such company’s operating results. AI Companies also rely heavily on a combination of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret laws to establish and protect their proprietary rights in their products and technologies. There can be no assurance that the steps taken by these companies to protect their proprietary rights will be adequate to prevent the misappropriation of their technology or that competitors will not independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to such companies’ technology. AI Companies typically engage in significant amounts of spending on research and development, and there is no guarantee that the products or services produced by these companies will be successful.
The risks associated with Medical Technology Companies include, but are not limited to, small or limited markets for such securities, changes in business cycles, world economic growth, technological progress, rapid obsolescence, and government regulation.
Diversification may not protect against market risk.
Beginning September 2, 2020, market price returns are based on the official closing price of an ETF share or, if the official closing price isn't available, the midpoint between the national best bid and national best offer (“NBBO”) as of the time the ETF calculates current NAV per share. Prior to September 2, 2020, market price returns were based on the midpoint between the Bid and Ask price. NAVs are calculated using prices as of 4:00 PM Eastern Time. The returns shown do not represent the returns you would receive if you traded shares at other times.