Lucence: Lighting up the Future of Cancer Care

By Catherine Jewell, Information and Digital Outreach Division, WIPO

One in three people will get cancer in their lifetime. This stark statistic makes early detection of cancer - when the disease is more treatable and curable - a “must.” A hyper-sensitive blood test developed by Lucence, a precision oncology company based in Singapore and the USA, promises to make early detection a reality. Through its ground-breaking technology, Lucence is working to improve cancer care and cure rates through a simple blood test. Its ultra-sensitive liquid biopsy tests make it possible to profile cancer accurately, rapidly and affordably with a single blood draw, allowing physicians to make better treatment decisions and improve health outcomes. Dr. Min-Han Tan, Founder and CEO of Lucence, talks to WIPO Magazine about his company’s commitment to saving the lives of cancer patients around the world through earlier detection of the disease.

The earlier cancer is detected, the less invasive and the less painful treatments are going to be.

What inspired you to become a clinician and to specialize in cancer research?

Medicine is a very positive way to help people directly. That’s something I enjoy. Cancer is a real challenge and it’s really motivating to see how technology can help beat it. Cancer is a major cause of death, so working in this field also raises deep spiritual questions. Playing a part in helping to alleviate that struggle gives a lot of meaning to what we do at Lucence.

Cancer is a real challenge and it’s really motivating to see how technology can help beat it.

Tell us about the work Lucence is doing?

We develop liquid biopsies or blood tests, to achieve earlier cancer detection and better treatment selection. With a simple blood test, instead of having to wait a month and risk an invasive tissue biopsy, a patient can get their results and have a decision about treatment selection within a week.  Liquid biopsies are making a big difference to cancer patients in terms of early detection and treatment decisions. Our aim going forward is to improve the sensitivity of these tests further. This will enable even earlier detection of a much broader range of cancers so patients benefit from early treatment and have a better chance of a cure.

We develop liquid biopsies or blood tests, to achieve earlier cancer detection and better treatment selection.

What services does Lucence offer? 

We offer cancer physicians a range of clinical services that accurately profile the blood samples of cancer patients, allowing them to make important life-changing decisions around treatment. We work with the physicians and oncologists – who are ultimately responsible for cancer treatment – to make sure the care they give is delivered appropriately. As a medical oncologist by training, my priority is to make sure that the technology and the service Lucence provides supports the best possible care.

What types of cancers do your tests detect?

Today, these blood tests are most useful for patients whose cancers are difficult to biopsy. These include lung cancer, gastro-intestinal cancer, as well as cancers that are widely metastatic, such as breast or prostate cancers that are metastatic to bone. These cancers are difficult for physicians to diagnose and the tissue biopsies required to identify the presence of cancer are invasive, painful and risky. Getting that same information from a blood test is a far better option. Our tests profile cancers for effective treatment selection. Our ambition is to develop blood tests that are sufficiently sensitive to detect multiple cancers at the earliest stage.

What drives your passion for this work?

At its heart, medicine is a series of stories around how patients and their families can benefit from and receive better care through technology and from service. It’s all about marrying innovation and quality to deliver better outcomes. What drives the company, is knowing that every blood sample represents a patient and his or her story and that we are part of the process of making their life better.

What is your biggest scientific achievement so far?

When COVID-19 started, we were among the first companies to deploy our core technologies to develop diagnostics in the space. We did one of the world’s largest studies of saliva diagnostics in COVID-19 and were able to learn how to better diagnose and profile the RNA in COVID-19. We took these lessons and realized that the RNA of cancer tumors could be profiled in blood using some of the same methods. Our ability to combine DNA and RNA testing in blood is a really important breakthrough for the treatment of cancer patients. It means we can predict the tumor’s behavior, which is key to anticipating the right treatments; the type of resistance that may develop; and plan counter strategies in terms of treatment. Our aim is to open up this core scientific advance to other companies so more patients can benefit from it.

How are you planning to bring your diagnostics to the world?

We have twin laboratories, one in California (USA) and one in Singapore. Through these laboratories we service the USA and Asia. We have on-going research collaborations with institutions throughout these areas and elsewhere, including in the Middle East and Africa.

These collaborations enrich the R&D process and ensure we have a deeper understanding of cancer. That also requires a deeper understanding of genetic diversity, which is really the key to beating cancer. Working on a global scale helps to generate the knowledge we need to achieve more accurate diagnostics for patients.

What is the impact of your work so far?

Our technology and our services help patients achieve quicker, easier, less risky and, in many situations, cheaper, patient care. Patients can now receive accurate cancer profiling and the correct treatment. To a cancer patient, time is precious and it’s really important to understand quickly what the best treatment option is for a patient. No one wants to have to undergo two months of expensive therapy, to find it wasn’t the right option. That’s the difference we’re making for cancer patients, today. As we continue to improve the sensitivity of our tests, we will have the ability to detect multiple cancers earlier with a single blood test. That work is on-going in collaboration with our partners.

Our technology and our services help patients achieve quicker, easier, less risky and, in many situations, cheaper, patient care.

Will there be a day when cancer treatments become more humane?

The earlier cancer is detected, the less invasive and the less painful treatments are going to be. We are trying to enable detection of cancers at an early stage when they are more treatable and more curable.

What prompted you to take the leap into the world of business?

As a cancer physician, ultimately, all you want to see is that your work is making a difference to people’s lives. So for me, commercialization was a natural progression of my research. After inventing the technology, figuring out how to bring it to the world on a much bigger scale was the next logical step.

What key challenges have you faced on your entrepreneurial journey?

There have been many learning opportunities. Learning how IP can be translated into a practical product for patient care was very insightful. One of the most interesting things I learned was that where the core goal is to help patients receive the best care, the needs are very similar, everywhere. There are, of course, differences in terms of the payer landscape, but it’s very motivating to see that on the product development side, there’s a clear understanding of how universal the needs are. There are always challenges, but making sure the product and the service help patients is the key motivator.

We always knew that IP was critical to translating our research into a commercial product and that securing IP rights was an important step that we needed to work towards.

At what stage did you decide to pivot from research to business?

The critical part of the transition was the operationalization of our IP. At the time, I was a researcher at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). We decided to take the leap when we had high confidence that the technology would work. The results of a study we did with our clinical collaborators reassured us that we could deliver something important to patients at scale. With that and the IP rights we had acquired through A*STAR, we decided the time was ripe. A*STAR was very supportive of the process of spinning out the company and commercializing our product.

You have published your research widely and have filed over 20 patents. When did you recognize the importance of IP?

We always knew that IP was critical to translating our research into a commercial product and that securing IP rights was an important step that we needed to work towards.

What role does IP play in your company?

As a deep technology company, IP is absolutely core to our existence. Our IP assets are the foundation on which we are able to deliver our services and meet the needs of patients. Our IP supports our R&D and our brand and gives investors confidence in our ability to solve patient needs. IP also facilitates the various partnerships we have around the world, which require that all parties understand what each is bringing to the table in terms of expertise, capabilities and assets.

As a deep technology company, IP is absolutely core to our existence.

Why are partnerships important to the company?

Taking a healthcare product from the lab to the patient is a complex process. The COVID-19 experience demonstrated very clearly that any major problem in healthcare needs multiple parties to work together to make things happen, whether in terms of developing a COVID vaccine or diagnostic tool. Partnerships are crucial. Access to capable partners helps solve many business challenges.

Advancing any healthcare product successfully needs many stakeholders to be aligned ─ hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and research institutions. It takes many, often complex public-private partnerships, to get the IP from the lab to the patient. Having the right partners makes all the difference, from technology development to the research studies needed to gather evidence to support the product, to product distribution, so patients get what they need. Partnerships are an integral part of the commercialization of medical diagnostics. 

What are your goals for the future?

Our principal goal is to deliver our combined DNA and RNA profiling technology to global audiences. We want to ensure the greatest possible number of patients benefit from it so the best possible care is achieved. From the scientific viewpoint, our aim is to enhance the test so cancers are detected at the earliest stage, even among asymptomatic, apparently healthy people, for example, when an individual has their annual health check-up.

Our principal goal is to deliver our combined DNA and RNA profiling technology to global audiences.

It’s in everyone’s interests that cancer is detected early so it can be treated. By focusing on what benefits the patient, we can work out how to deliver an affordable and scalable technology that can reduce healthcare costs while serving patients. With that understanding, innovation can effectively translate into more of the products people need. It may take years, but we must map a clear path towards achieving an accurate, accessible and affordable test to detect multiple cancers early when they are curable. The COVID-19 experience shows just how complicated it is to develop medical diagnostics and that it is possible to accelerate the whole process. That’s important, because these are life-changing advances.

What advice would you offer young researchers?

Choose the biggest problem you can solve and go for it and make sure you are able to commercialize it successfully.