A Hard Look At Liquid Biopsies | In the Pipeline

A Hard Look At Liquid Biopsies | In the Pipeline

Derek Lowe's commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry. An editorially independent blog from the publishers of Science Translational Medicine. All content is Derek’s own, and he does not in any way speak for his employer.

By Derek Lowe

A Hard Look At Liquid Biopsies

By Derek LoweJanuary 22, 2018

This new paper has generated a lot of headlines (Science news writeup here). It reports work on the long-sought “liquid biopsy” idea for cancer screening, the use of circulating biomarkers to detect tumors via a blood test. The idea has obvious appeal, so much appeal that many news stories over the years have gotten well ahead of the facts.