BillionToOne ctDNA Test Matches Tumor-Informed Rival in Study
A peer-reviewed study finds BillionToOne's tissue-free Northstar Response achieved 94% concordance with tumor-informed ctDNA testing for cancer monitoring.
A new peer-reviewed study has found that BillionToOne's tissue-free liquid biopsy test, Northstar Response, performs on par with or better than tumor-informed circulating tumor DNA assays in monitoring cancer treatment, the company announced.
The head-to-head comparison showed 94% concordance between the two testing approaches. Notably, in all cases where the results diverged, the clinical ground truth — the real-world patient outcome data used as the benchmark — sided with Northstar Response rather than the tumor-informed assay.
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The findings are significant for oncology diagnostics because tissue-free, or tumor-naive, liquid biopsy tests do not require a prior tumor tissue sample to establish a patient's baseline mutation profile. That distinction could lower barriers to ctDNA-based treatment monitoring, particularly for patients whose tissue samples are unavailable or insufficient.
Tumor-informed assays have long been considered the standard in minimal residual disease and treatment-response monitoring, requiring genomic data derived directly from a patient's tumor. BillionToOne's study challenges that assumption by suggesting its tissue-free approach can deliver comparable — and in discordant cases, more accurate — clinical information.
The peer-reviewed validation adds to the body of evidence supporting next-generation liquid biopsy platforms as viable alternatives to more resource-intensive tumor-informed testing protocols. Continue reading at GlobeNewswire - Industry News on Financial Services.
