The LUNAR assay, a new blood-based assay intended to detect early-stage cancer and recurrence of disease, is now available from Guardant Health, Inc. for research use by biopharmaceutical and academic researchers. The assay, was developed under the company's LUNAR program for early-stage detection and recurrence monitoring. It is based on biological insights from more than 80,000 cancer patients tested with Guardant360, as well as learnings from whole-genome sequencing liquid biopsy data. Earlier intervention using precision medicine in oncology could potentially improve outcomes for substantial numbers of cancer patients. The company believe this cutting-edge assay may be the catalyst to meaningfully increase survivorship, cures, and ultimately public health. The LUNAR assay has been designed to overcome a variety of challenges that have confounded prior approaches for the detection of early-stage cancers, including inadequate tissue, biological noise, and the limited sensitivity of genomic-only tests. With a single blood draw, the assay is simultaneously able to detect both genomic alterations and epigenomic signatures with high clinical sensitivity and specificity. The assay improves upon Guardant360’s and effectively filtering out biological noise sources, such as, mutations caused by clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential. The incorporation of biologically relevant epigenomic signatures is critical in increasing the sensitivity of the assay to early-stage cancers. Multiple top-tier academic research networks and biopharma companies will utilize the LUNAR assay in studies involving adjuvant therapy decision-making, recurrence monitoring, and screening for early-stage cancer. The clinical version of the test for IUO use in prospective studies is expected to launch in the second half of 2019.