ctDNA inches toward new applications

After establishing itself as a key tool for tumor profiling and patient stratification, circulating tumor DNA is now beginning to make the move into monitoring response to therapy, where it promises an early read of efficacy that could cut clinical timelines and costs.

Getting from here to there will require generation of prospective validation data across several cancer types and therapies, plus standardization of assays to measure ctDNA. Several companies have started gathering the data and forming the collaborations needed to make this happen. ...