One ‘Monopoly’ That Could Save Your Life
May 2, 2023 12:53 pm ET Galleri test samples are prepared for processing in Grail's lab in Durham, N.C. Photo: Grail Inc. Will the Federal Trade Commission continue to stymie, and the Food and Drug Administration continue to stall, the widespread availability of Illumina’s Grail cancer screening test, Galleri? (“Lina Khan Blocks Cancer Cures” by John Tamny, op-ed, April 28). With only a blood sample, the test can quite accurately detect markers for some 50 of the deadliest cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Despite the FDA and FTC roadblocks, the Mayo Clinic and some other health systems, including Mercy Medical in Missouri, are providing Galleri cancer screenings. I would know; I got one, and my negative result has provided serious peace of mind. For many others, it could save their lives. Since the test is stuck in the labyrint
Galleri test samples are prepared for processing in Grail's lab in Durham, N.C.
Photo: Grail Inc.
Will the Federal Trade Commission continue to stymie, and the Food and Drug Administration continue to stall, the widespread availability of Illumina’s Grail cancer screening test, Galleri? (“Lina Khan Blocks Cancer Cures” by John Tamny, op-ed, April 28). With only a blood sample, the test can quite accurately detect markers for some 50 of the deadliest cancers, including pancreatic cancer.
Despite the FDA and FTC roadblocks, the Mayo Clinic and some other health systems, including Mercy Medical in Missouri, are providing Galleri cancer screenings. I would know; I got one, and my negative result has provided serious peace of mind. For many others, it could save their lives.
Since the test is stuck in the labyrinth of FDA approval and the FTC is seeking divestiture of Grail by Illumina, Medicare won’t pay for the test. It can be obtained with a $950 payment, out-of-pocket and out of reach for many. Questions of “restraint of trade” of the sole company that can provide such a test to the wider public is ridiculous. One could also call it callous and cruel.
Alan Wright
St. Louis
Ms. Khan, the FTC chair, appears determined to unravel the merger of Illumina and Grail, which would have made early detection of pancreatic cancer widely available. Pancreatic cancer is most always fatal within a year of diagnosis because the disease is so advanced before it presents symptoms. Now, it seems that early detection is within reach using a simple blood test. I wonder how it strikes the many medical researchers who have devoted their careers to achieving this goal to have a government official fixated on the business model behind a true medical breakthrough.
As someone who lost a husband and two of my closest friends to pancreatic cancer, I propose that, until there are additional players in the marketplace, a monopoly created to prevent quick and almost certain death from this disease would be a highly desirable one. If more companies develop alternative early detection methods, so much the better. It would have been difficult to explain Ms. Khan’s logic to my two teenagers when their Dad died less than six months after his diagnosis.
Jacqueline Jackson
Napa, Calif.
What's Your Reaction?
