Fitness Enthusiast Unexpectedly Finds Cancer through New Screening Test

(BPT) – Putting Health FirstGym owner and avid fitness enthusiast, Rich, has always prioritized his health. He prides himself on being health conscious, taking steps to maintain his health and keeping up with his annual exams.After learning about the Galleri® test, a multi-cancer early detection blood test that screens for a “fingerprint” of some of the deadliest cancers before people have symptoms, Rich was interested.”When I heard the Galleri test screened for cancer, I was very much about that. My wife — a registered nurse — also thought it was a great idea,” said Rich, whose mother passed away of colon cancer.Rich was able to receive the Galleri test as a benefit from his Nationwide life insurance policy. After speaking with his doctor and obtaining a prescription, Rich moved forward with the test. “I made the appointment, and they did the blood draw. It was as simple as that,” he said.While doctors can test individually for five specific cancers today, nearly 70% of deaths are caused by cancers without recommended screenings.1,2The Galleri test is a new proactive tool to screen for cancer. The test looks for DNA shed into the bloodstream by cancers growing in the body. Though there are many types of cancer, these DNA fragments act like a unique “fingerprint” of cancer, which allows the Galleri test to provide direction to a doctor on the cancer’s origin and help guide next steps for diagnosis.3When Rich received his Galleri test result, he and his wife, Barbara, were surprised to hear it was a Cancer Signal Detected. After a diagnostic evaluation and conversations with his oncologist, Rich was told he had stage three cancer in his head and neck.”When we found out Rich had cancer, our whole life just turned on a dime. My daughter and I just started crying,” said Barbara.”But once we learned it was localized and caught early, I felt relief,” Rich recalled. “Because I didn’t have any symptoms, without the Galleri test, we might not have caught my cancer for another six months or a year or longer. If my cancer wasn’t caught when it was, it could have spread and my treatment options could have been more limited.”Road to RecoveryRich worked with his oncologist to start treatment and now considers himself on the road to recovery.”The treatment for cancer can knock you out, and that definitely happened in my case,” said Rich, a self-proclaimed “gym nut.” “It’s going to be a long process to get back to where I was, but I am confident that I’ll conquer it.”Rich credited Galleri with giving him more control when it came to cancer. Today, he is continuing to focus on his health, including taking other proactive measures to stay healthy, and is thankful for those that brought the Galleri test to him.Learn MoreThe Galleri test must be prescribed by a healthcare provider and should be used in addition to recommended cancer screenings such as mammography, colonoscopy, prostate specific antigen (PSA) test and/or cervical cancer screening. It is intended for use in adults with an elevated risk for cancer, such as those aged 50 or older.The Galleri test does not detect a signal for all cancers, and not all cancers can be detected in the blood. False-positive and false-negative results do occur.Based on a clinical study of people ages 50 to 79, around 1% are expected to receive a Cancer Signal Detected result, which includes predicted Cancer Signal Origin(s). After diagnostic evaluation, around 40% of people are expected to have a confirmed cancer diagnosis. The overall sensitivity in study participants in head and neck cancer was 85.7% (63.2% for stage I, 82.4% for stage II, 84.2% stage III, 96.0% stage IV).Learn more at Galleri.com.Important Safety InformationThe Galleri test is recommended for use in adults with an elevated risk for cancer, such as those aged 50 or older. The Galleri test does not detect all cancers and should be used in addition to routine cancer screening tests recommended by a healthcare provider. Galleri is intended to detect cancer signals and predict where in the body the cancer signal is located. Use of Galleri is not recommended in individuals who are pregnant, 21 years old or younger, or undergoing active cancer treatment.Results should be interpreted by a healthcare provider in the context of medical history, clinical signs and symptoms. A test result of “Cancer Signal Not Detected” does not rule out cancer. A test result of “Cancer Signal Detected” requires confirmatory diagnostic evaluation by medically established procedures (e.g., imaging) to confirm cancer.If cancer is not confirmed with further testing, it could mean that cancer is not present or testing was insufficient to detect cancer, including due to the cancer being located in a different part of the body. False-­positive (a cancer signal detected when cancer is not present) and false-­negative (a cancer signal not detected when cancer is present) test results do occur. Rx only.Laboratory/Test InformationGRAIL’s clinical laboratory is certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) and accredited by the College of American Pathologists. The Galleri test was developed, and its performance characteristics were determined by GRAIL. The Galleri test has not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. GRAIL’s clinical laboratory is regulated under CLIA to perform high ­complexity testing. The Galleri test is intended for clinical purposes._________________________[1] US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended cancer screening tests, Grade A,B,C. https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/topic_search_results.[2] American Cancer Society Cancer Facts and Figures 2022. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2022/2022-cancer-facts-and-figures.pdf. Data on file GA-2021-0065.[3] Klein EA, Richards D, Cohn A, et al. Clinical Validation of a Targeted Methylation N-Based Multi-Cancer Early Detection Test Using an Independent Validation Set. Ann Oncol. 2021;32(9):1167-1177. Doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2021.05.806.