Roche's liquid biopsy pips Guardant's on companion nods

Friday’s US approval as a companion diagnostic for Amgen’s Kras inhibitor Lumakras is the third such nod for Guardant360 CDx. Guardant’s liquid biopsy can be used to pick out patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer whose tumours harbour the Kras G12C mutation, thought to be present in around 13% of this population. But Guardant360 CDx is some way behind Roche’s FoundationOne Liquid CDx, approved in the US for no fewer than seven drugs in four different cancers. A look at forecast sales, compiled by Evaluate Pharma, for these targeted therapies gives a loose indication of how the two tests might sell: the drugs with which Roche’s test may be used are forecast to generate $14.5bn of collective revenue in 2026, whereas the corresponding figure for Guardant’s assay is a comparatively paltry $10.8bn. Naturally not all patients with these cancers will respond to these therapies – the Alk arrangements amenable to treatment with Alecensa occur in just 3-7% of advanced NSCLC cases, for instance – but many more patients will undergo liquid biopsy testing.

This article has been corrected to remove a misattributed approval for FoundationOne Liquid CDx.