Siemens Healthcare has joined the CANCER-ID consortium to explore the potential of blood-based biomarkers to detect and treat cancer.
CANCER-ID is an initiative of the European Union's Innovative Medicines Initiative and currently includes 33 partners from 13 countries collaborating to establish standard protocols for the clinical validation of blood-based biomarkers.
The biomarkers, including circulating tumor cells, are potential indicators for the tumor burden of patients living with cancer, especially for patients in whom biopsies of the tumor are not available.
Proponents believe molecular diagnostics will play a critical role in developing the diagnostic tools and assays necessary to detect circulating tumor cells and in the development of companion diagnostics to track the efficacy of treatment.
