Government-backed Genomics England has passed the first phase of testing with partners Inivata and Thermo Fisher Scientific in evaluating the use of liquid biopsies for cancer diagnosis.
Genomics England is part of the 100,000 Genomes Project, which is aimed at sequencing 100,000 whole genomes from patients in the National Health Service (NHS) of England with cancers and rare diseases.
The 100,000 Genomes Project is funded by NHS England, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and other national research foundations.
On April 16, Genomics England said that it and its private partners passed the first phase of their research work, having analyzed 200 blood plasma samples from the 100,000 Genomes Project using Inivata's liquid biopsy platform and Thermo Fisher's Oncomine pan-cancer cell-free assay for cancer diagnosis.
The plasma samples were of high quality and produced reliable results that were consistent across all tumor types, which bodes well for the use of liquid biopsies to improve cancer management, Genomics England said in a statement.
The second phase of the study involves assessing the technology of preselected liquid biopsy companies.
"This will inform future procurement and research strategies to improve patient outcomes," Genomics England said.
