In the works: blood tests for lung cancer

A Moon Shots Program Initiative

BY Scott Merville

Sam Hanash, M.D., Ph.D. Photo by Eric Kayne.

Exact Sciences Corp. and MD Anderson are collaborating to develop and commercialize blood-based screening and diagnostics tests for the early detection of lung cancer.

“Lung cancer is, and will continue to be, America’s leading cancer killer unless we identify new approaches to diagnose it early, at its most treatable stages,” says Sam Hanash, M.D., Ph.D., director of MD Anderson’s Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer. Hanash also holds the Evelyn and Sol Rubenstein Distinguished Chair and is a professor in Clinical Cancer Prevention.

The initiative is part of MD Anderson's Moon Shots Program. Early detection is a flagship project of the Lung Cancer Moon Shot, funded initially by the Lyda Hill Foundation.

"Lung cancer is, and will continue to be, America's leading cancer killer unless we identify new approaches to diagnose it early, at its most treatable stages."

Sam Hanash, M.D., Ph.D.

director, Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer

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