Lessons from a National Liquid Biopsy Program to Provide Cancer Testing and Treatment for Patients with Advanced...

Personalized cancer treatment depends on the accurate and timely detection of the patient tumor variants. LBx enables minimally invasive tumor mutation profiling. We report results of a pan-Canadian LBx program for patients with advanced solid tumors. Plasma samples were tested at Imagia Canexia Health accredited laboratory using the clinically validated Follow It 38-gene panel. A proprietary platform was used to identify clinically relevant variants in the circulating tumor DNA and report results following accepted international guidelines on clinical significance. A total of 4229 eligible patients submitted samples for LBx testing, and reports for 97% of them were delivered within ~8 days. More than 80% of Canadian oncologists from >150 institutions across 12 provinces (11% from rural centers) participated in the project. The patient cohort consisted mostly of advanced or metastatic lung, breast, and colon cancers. ctDNA mutations were detected in >50% of cases, and clinical trials were recommended for 76% of all participants. Health economics modeling analysis found that Follow It^® in combination with tissue biopsy was cost-saving and resulted in an additional 0.1138 QALYs gained relative to tissue biopsy alone. The successful pan-Canadian implementation of a cost-effective, robust LBx testing program demonstrated its sustained demand and feasibility, and its potential economic and health benefits.