The future of early detection: Optimizing logistics for liquid biopsies

At the forefront of this revolution in early cancer diagnosis are liquid biopsies, a groundbreaking diagnostic tool poised to transform cancer management. Recently, the UK National Health Service (NHS) announced its rollout of liquid biopsies for breast cancer — a new test that detects a mutation that prompts tumors to grow, before they develop [1]. This presents a leap forward, as it potentially allows treatment to begin even earlier when it has the greatest chance of success. 

Having the right infrastructure in place for manufacturing and testing the samples will be vital to the success of this new diagnostic tool. Effective logistics support will also be key, by helping to connect the production line, the patient and the testing laboratory together. 

Liquid biopsies: A new era of non-invasive diagnostics

Traditional surgical tissue biopsies, while invaluable, are invasive and can be painful for patients. Liquid biopsies see blood drawn from the patient in-clinic. This is a less invasive approach than surgery. 

Liquid biopsies work by analyzing blood samples to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or cell-free DNA (cfDNA) shed by tumors. This enables the detection of cancer at earlier stages, allowing treatment to begin earlier when it has the greatest chance of success. In addition, liquid biopsies support real-time monitoring of the cancer. They can help track tumor evolution and treatment response, potentially enabling timely adjustments to therapy. 

Analysis of cfDNA can also help identify genetic mutations that inform personalized CGTs, potentially allowing even greater precision in the therapeutic given to the patient.  

Addressing the logistical challenges of liquid biopsies

The success of liquid biopsies depends on maintaining the integrity of the blood samples from the moment they are taken from patients to when they are received by the laboratory, and during the analysis process. This presents significant logistical challenges.

Key factors impacting the success of any supply chain for liquid biopsies include:

• Temperature control: Shipments to and from labs still have similarly stringent temperature requirements as frozen or cryogenic shipments. It is important to maintain samples at consistent temperatures within specified ranges during transit and storage to prevent degradation.
• Time sensitivity: Delays in transport can compromise sample quality, by making a temperature excursion more likely. Rapid and reliable delivery is crucial.
• Sample tracking and traceability: Real-time monitoring and tracking are essential to ensure sample integrity and chain of custody.  
• Scalability: As liquid biopsies become more prevalent, healthcare systems must manage a significant increase in sample volume. Failure to have the right lab space in place, or the right transport and storage infrastructure to deal with volumes as they ramp up could undermine the real-world success of this new diagnostic tool.
• Decentralized collection: Samples may be collected at various locations across a territory or market, requiring efficient transport from disparate clinics to centralized laboratories.
• Standardization: Ensuring consistent sample handling and processing across different facilities is crucial for reliable results. This doesn’t just mean having a standardized approach to taking the tests, but preparing them for shipping, ensuring a consistent method of handling in transit, and once they arrive at the laboratory.
• Cost management: Optimizing logistics to minimize costs while maintaining quality is also essential for sustainable implementation.

Expert support from laboratory logistics experts is needed to overcome these challenges and ensure liquid biopsies can truly taken their place at the heart of future cancer diagnosis and care.

Navigating the complexities of lab logistics

Third-party logistics providers have a crucial role to play in the success of many new CGTs and other pharmaceutical treatments. They streamline the transport of patient samples to manufacturing facilities or laboratories, and of finished doses back to patients’ local clinics, ensuring that whatever is being shipped arrives on time and in the best possible condition. In doing so, they play an important part in providing patients with the care they need when they need it most. 

Diagnostic tools like liquid biopsies present a distinct set of supply chain challenges compared with finished therapies. They require support from a third-party logistics provider with specialist expertise in laboratory logistics. 

World Courier has a rich heritage of experience in laboratory logistics, offering a range of solutions for the efficient and reliable handling of patient samples from the clinic to the laboratory for testing. We provide: 

• Flexible courier services: From Next Flight Out (NFO) to hybrid operating models, we can meet the unique needs of the samples being transported. 
• Temperature-controlled transport and storage: Ensuring samples are maintained within specified temperature ranges throughout transit.
• Real-time monitoring and tracking: Providing end-to-end visibility of sample location and condition.
• Specialized packaging and handling: Utilizing validated packaging solutions to protect sample integrity.
• Global network: Facilitating seamless transport across international borders, harnessing local expertise to streamline samples’ passage through customs complexity.
• Decentralized logistical support: Allowing samples to be collected from multiple clinic locations and delivered to a single central laboratory facility in a timely manner.
• Scalable solutions: Comprehensive and flexible existing global infrastructure, as well as regional expertise and insight, enables us to support global healthcare providers in adapting and scaling up testing operations as adoption of new diagnostic tools increases. 

With the support of experienced and specialist logistics providers, laboratories and healthcare providers can ensure innovations like liquid biopsies have the solid supply chain foundation they need to deliver on their game-changing promise. Ultimately, such collaboration plays a key role in improving patient outcomes.

Looking ahead: The future of early detection

Liquid biopsies herald an exciting new era in cancer diagnostics, potentially providing the extra time for therapies to work, and even offering the additional data to enhance the precision of CGTs for even greater therapeutic effect. 

As healthcare providers like the UK NHS embrace this technology for breast cancer and other cancers over the coming years, optimizing logistics will be essential for its successful implementation. Collaboration between healthcare systems and specialist laboratory logistics providers will be key to ensuring the efficient and reliable handling of samples, paving the way for a future where more cancers than ever are caught and treated early enough to save lives.