Quest Diagnostics has rolled out an ultrasensitive blood test to monitor multiple myeloma treatment, potentially sparing patients from more invasive and costly bone marrow aspirations.
Quest Flow Cytometry MRD for Myeloma can detect measurable residual disease (MRD)—traces of cancer in a patient’s body during and after treatment—with sensitivity comparable to next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based tests, but at a much lower cost, the company announced Feb. 2.
The test will be available at about 7,000 Quest locations across the U.S.
About 36,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed each year with multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that leads to the production of abnormal antibodies that can weaken bones and cause anemia, infections and blood clotting difficulties.
There’s no cure for the disease, but it can often be treated as a chronic condition using chemotherapy and targeted therapies. MRD monitoring helps oncologists gauge treatment response and guide care.
Until recently, MRD monitoring required using a needle to extract a small sample of liquid bone marrow, typically from the hip. NGS now allows for MRD monitoring using both blood and bone marrow samples, but those tests are expensive and require a pre-treatment baseline sample, the company said in the release.
Quest said its test can be used even when a baseline is not available, and the blood samples remain stable for five days, allowing access in areas that require longer transportation time between a blood draw location and the lab.
“The sensitivity, cost and sample stability that we can now offer to patients and their care team will help those suffering from this potentially devastating condition,” Timothy Looney, Quest’s senior director of immuno-oncology, said in a statement.
Quest added that the test may also help speed the development of new multiple myeloma treatments, because it can be used as a response monitoring tool in clinical trials. The FDA issued draft guidance for multiple myeloma trials last month outlining the use of MRD testing as a primary endpoint.
The test adds to Quest’s oncology portfolio, which includes its Haystack Oncology MRD test for solid tumors.
