Overview
- Zydus Lifesciences has exclusive commercial rights from Guardant Health and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Apollo Hospitals to make the Shield Multi‑Cancer Detection test available across Apollo’s network for average-risk adults aged 45 and older.
- Shield MCD uses methylation analysis of circulating tumour DNA from a single blood draw to screen for signals linked to ten cancers including breast, lung, colorectal, liver, pancreatic and prostate cancer and it can often indicate a likely tissue of origin.
- Clinicians and companies emphasise that a positive Shield MCD result does not confirm cancer and must be followed by targeted imaging, endoscopy or biopsy to establish a diagnosis and stage disease.
- The test holds an FDA Breakthrough Device designation and recent large real-world data reported for an MCED assay showed about 79% detection in confirmed cancers with 99.9% specificity, but those findings do not yet prove the test reduces deaths or define screening intervals.
- Price in India has not been disclosed and public-health experts say local validation, cost-effectiveness, guidance on who to screen and clear implementation plans will determine whether the rollout expands meaningful early detection or adds unnecessary follow-up procedures.