Austin clinics chosen to administer new blood tests to screen for colon cancer

AUSTIN, Texas - Health clinics in Austin are helping expand access to a new cancer detection blood test. 

The Shield blood test, by California-based Guardant Health, was approved last summer by the FDA.

What is the Shield blood test?

What they're saying:

"It can catch colon cancer as early as stage one, where it's highly treatable or, unfortunately, as late as stage four, where, again, the survival rates start to drop," said Sam Asgarian, Guardant’s Vice President of Clinical Development for Screening.

The Shield test detects markers for colorectal cancer.

"This gives everyone another option beyond just the ones that exist today. So, if they say, 'hey, there's a simpler solution, it takes minutes', and you want to take that approach that's now available to you today," said Asgarian.

It meets Medicare’s requirements for coverage, but private insurance has not yet started covering the costs, which is almost $900. To help qualify for insurance coverage, Guardant is working with several clinics in Austin and Dallas.

Why was Austin chosen?

What they're saying:

Austin was chosen because residents seem to embrace new technology, according to Asgarian.

"There's a great innovation culture within Austin, areas that really understand the expansion and the safety within FDA approval of a new test gives us confidence that we can then use those learnings in other areas that may continue to be lagging in the adoption," said Asgarian.

"We've seen over 2,000 orders for the Shield test within the Austin area. What's even more promising to us is there are over 50 physicians that have ordered the test. So knowing that it's available to that population in this short period of time gives us a lot of hope that it will continue to grow and expand in the area. Across Texas, overall, last year, over 4,000 people died from colorectal cancer, colorectal cancer," said Asgarian.

What's next:

Guardant hopes to get on the physician guidelines from the American Cancer Society later this year. With that approval. The goal is to get approval next year from the U.S. Preventive Services Task force.

"In our world, insurance coverage is always kind of slow to follow on. There are a lot of Medicare patients, of course, in the Texas area, a wide diverse group. And so, we really are focusing on areas where physicians can order this for their patients. Know that the patients have little to no co-pay while we work in the background to get into the guidelines and get the broader insurance coverage," said Asgarian.