FirstLook Lung blood test improves access to cancer screening

BURLINGTON, Mass. and PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- DELFI Diagnostics, Inc., a developer of accessible blood-based tests that deliver a new way to enhance cancer detection, has selected Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC), part of Massachusetts-based Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH), to utilize its FirstLook Lung cancer screening test to help improve screening rates in the greater Boston area. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death both domestically and globally.

A national leader in lung cancer screening, LHMC is the first American College of Radiology-designated lung cancer screening center in the United States. Lahey will incorporate DELFI's blood-based lung cancer screening test in the primary care setting on patients eligible for lung cancer screening. Studies show lung cancer screening can reduce lung cancer death rates by 20% or more.

"We are thrilled to team with Lahey Hospital & Medical Center to improve the health of the communities it serves by improving lung cancer screening rates while expanding our reach to the Northeast. Today, screening rates are paltry - under 10% nationwide," said Peter B. Bach, DELFI's Chief Medical Officer. "FirstLook Lung offers providers and their patients an accessible and convenient way to improve lung cancer detection through a simple blood test."

FirstLook Lung evaluates patterns of DNA fragments in the blood that reveal the presence of lung cancer. In an independent validation, FirstLook Lung was shown to have very high sensitivity in a screening population, including detecting the earliest stages of the disease. The test also demonstrated a negative predictive value (NPV) of 99.8 percent for determining if lung cancer would be discovered on a screening Chest CT. Early detection is key to improving patient outcomes.

About DELFI Diagnostics

DELFI Diagnostics is developing next-generation, blood-based tests that are accurate, accessible, and deliver a new way to help detect cancer. DELFI tests are built to solve the highest-burden population health issues, including in historically underserved demographics, and have the potential to save lives on a global scale. FirstLook Lung, for individuals eligible for lung cancer screening, is our first laboratory-developed screening test and requires a simple blood draw that can be incorporated with routine blood work. The test is based on fragmentomics, the discovery that cancer cells are more chaotic than normal cells and, when they die, leave behind tell-tale patterns and characteristics of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragments in the blood. The DELFI platform applies advanced machine-learning technology to whole-genome sequencing data to assess individuals' cfDNA fragments against populations with and without cancer. FirstLook Lung uses these millions of data points to reliably identify individuals who may have cancer detected through low-dose CT, including early-stage disease, with a negative predictive value of 99.8 percent. This test has not been cleared or approved by the FDA. To learn more about the FirstLook Lung test, visit or

SOURCE DELFI Diagnostics