The simple blood draw that tests for 50 cancers long before symptoms develop

Two main ingredients power Lucence’s approach to beating cancer: a conviction that early detection and diagnosis are critical and a commitment to harnessing the most innovative technology.

The Singaporean startup’s company founder and CEO, Dr Tan Min-Han, first formulated his approach while working as a medical-oncologist consultant at the National Cancer Centre Singapore in 1999. He was struck by the number of late-stage cancer patients coming through his clinic’s doors. For many, it was too late to get help as the cancer was too far advanced. 

Dr Tan also learned that many people avoided early cancer screening as they found tests such as colonoscopies invasive and painful.

Dr Tan in Lucence’s Singapore office. 

“I knew that about 78 per cent of cancer deaths globally were occurring in cases where the cancer had not been screened for. I wondered, ‘What if we could come up with a way to make testing for the cancer’s hallmarks less invasive, faster and more accurate?” he says.

That put Dr Tan on a path to founding Lucence in 2016 with just five staff members. In 2018, the fledgling company introduced its flagship offering, LiquidHALLMARK, a liquid biopsy test that detects clinically relevant mutations across multiple cancer types. While initially profiling 20 genes in blood, LiquidHALLMARK has been expanded to cover 80 genes across 15 types of cancer.
 
In May 2023, a second flagship product, LucenceINSIGHT, was launched in Asia. This used a single blood draw to check early signals for up to 50 types of cancer – including lung, breast and colorectal.

“We’re aiming to catch a wider range of cancers before the symptoms appear,” says Dr Tan.

READ: When his mum was diagnosed with cancer, this scientist decided to take matters into his own hands 

With just a single draw of blood from patients, Lucence’s technology detects a range of cancer ‘signals’ – biological substances shed by cancers, such as fragments of tumour DNA – that go beyond what traditional methods can pick up. 

Testing begins with a physician drawing a blood sample from a patient in a clinic or hospital. The sample is stored in a kit and shipped to Lucence’s Singapore laboratory to be processed by its proprietary technology, AmpliMARK. 

Blood samples are delivered to Lucence’s office and then enter the labs via a pass box to ensure high sanitation standards are maintained. 

“Our tech is based on a chemistry called next-generation sequencing. This identifies patterns of DNA fragments circulating in the blood that have been shed by dying cells unique to certain types of cancer. These fragments typically exist at exceptionally low levels, so you need ultrasensitive technology to pick them up,” Dr Tan explains.

Unlike rival solutions, AmpliMARK can capture signals from cancer-driving viruses in blood, plus any mutated DNA that might hint at early-stage cancers. It can also accommodate detecting cancers that are more common in specific regions. In Asia, that includes liver, gastric and nasopharyngeal cancer. 

“Our system converts AmpliMARK’s results into gigabytes of data. We then use software powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning models to analyse that data and create a report which we send back to the physician, either clearing the patient of cancer or identifying a cancer signal.”

NGS Service Lead & Research Manager Dr Wan Zi Yi with Lucence’s NGS machines which convert chemical DNA signals into digital signals to be processed through their bioinformatic pipeline. 

Dr Tan emphasises that Lucence’s solutions don’t diagnose cancer, but supply a hint that any revealed mutations might develop into the disease.  
“Our tests are complementary tools for traditional screening methods. A positive result will always require further tests and follow-ups.”

Dr Tan’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2010 when he switched to becoming a biomedical scientist after ten years as a medical oncologist. 
“I moved out of the clinic and into the lab to assemble the knowledge and skills I would need to develop new solutions, and contribute towards the best possible cancer care,” he explains.

READ: What it takes to become a scientist-entrepreneur 

That saw him retrain as a clinical cancer geneticist and obtain a PhD in molecular epidemiology from the National University of Singapore.
In 2011, he was appointed to lead a research team at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star). Lucence was born as a spinoff from that very team.

“My A*Star years were highly formative. That’s where I first developed a strong interest and expertise in liquid biopsy. The first blood tests that we came up with at Lucence were based on the technologies I’d researched in my A*Star lab,” he says.  

Fast forward to today and Lucence has a 73-strong team operating from dual headquarters in Singapore and Palo Alto in the US, and a commercial team in Hong Kong. 

Its tests are also available at most private and public hospitals and clinics in Singapore, as well as at medical facilities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Canada. 
“Singapore provided us with an invaluable test bed to validate and optimise our blood tests. The local clinical community provided important validation for our work,” says Dr Tan.

“We’ve also been very thankful for the deep tech ecosystem here that delivers strong IP protections, a reliable environment for us to build our technology, and collaborative opportunities with so many key individuals and organisations. That also includes investment opportunities.”

In 2017, Lucence raised US$9.2 million in seed funding from private investors. In 2019, it raised US$20 million in a Series A funding round where investors included leading private healthcare group IHH Healthcare and SGInnovate.

The Lucence team. 

"Since our first investment in 2019, we’ve continued to invest in Lucence in follow-on rounds, and they have delivered,” says Deputy Director of Investments at SGInnovate, Annabelle Chiong. “A significant achievement was the US Medicare reimbursement approval in 2023 which unlocked the massive US market.” 

Lucence is the first and only Asian-headquartered company for cancer testing to achieve the highly sought after Medicare coverage. 
But their journey has been far from smooth. The team has had to navigate various commercialisation complexities on the road to success.  

“Logistical issues created a major hurdle in the early days, such as setting up new labs during the pandemic when supplies were prioritised for COVID-19 testing. And launching a company is always a challenge when you have a small team. It helped that our core mission – overcoming cancer with earlier detection and timely treatment – is very clear and unites us all. It has helped us grow through the challenges,” says Dr Tan.

Lucence is now ramping up its sales push for LucenceINSIGHT, with a US launch scheduled for later in 2024. 

The firm is also strategically seeking commercialisation partners to help it navigate the vast and complex US market. This involves understanding the interactions between various healthcare institutions, insurance providers and patients. 

In Dr Tan’s words: “Our main focus now is how to scale our Singapore-invented services and technology to wider Asia, the US and indeed the world, in a way that is both affordable and accessible. It’s exciting times for the team – we passionately believe our tests can make a difference and save lives.” 

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