Cancer often strikes in what appears to be a random fashion; however, this is not always the case. Maybe it’s a relatively young person with no apparent risk factors. They eat right and exercise regularly. Yet despite this person’s age and healthy lifestyle choices, he or she is still diagnosed with cancer. It’s easy to look at a situation such as this and assume that risk factors are meaningless. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Today there are several known cancer risk factors, from advancing age to an individual’s own personal health care and lifestyle choices. This means some policyholders have a greater risk of developing cancer than others. In this article, we take a closer look at cancer risk factors to identify which policyholders are at greater risk. From there, we’ll introduce Galleri®, a multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test from GRAIL, LLC (“GRAIL”), describing how it creates an opportunity to improve mortality by bringing this revolutionary test to the life insurance industry.

Individuals have control over some cancer risk factors—but not all of them. They can refrain from or stop smoking and maintain a healthy weight through regular exercise and a proper diet.^2,3 However, advancing age, which is the most important risk factor, cannot be controlled. This is why it is critical to use modern technology with cancer screenings and early detection tools. 

For starters, individuals can commit to regular health checkups and FDA-recommended cancer screenings such as a mammogram and colonoscopy. Individuals are encouraged to engage their health care providers and start cancer screening as soon as it is appropriate.

Early detection of cancer through screening has been shown to reduce mortality from cancers of the breast, colon, cervix, prostate, and lung. For example, among those meeting screening criteria and undergoing the testing, deaths rates from breast and colorectal cancer decreased by 20-30%.^5,6,7 For cervical cancer, the mortality reduction was approximately 50% with screening.⁸ While these traditional screenings are effective, they are typically limited to these five types of cancer. However, there are more than 100 other known types of cancer, and many of them go undiagnosed until it’s too late to prevent death. In fact, 71% of cancer deaths result from cancers with no recommended screening. What if there was a way to detect most of the other cancer types? 

Important Safety Information
Galleri® is recommended for use in adults with an elevated risk for cancer, such as those aged 50 or older. Galleri® 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. 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. Galleri® is prescription only.

Laboratory/Test Information 
GRAIL’s clinical laboratory is certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) and accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Galleri® was developed, and its performance characteristics were determined by GRAIL. Galleri® 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. Galleri® is intended for clinical purposes.