One blood draw that could catch many cancers early just won the FDA's fast-track nod

Most cancers are found too late simply because no screening test exists for them. A Texas diagnostics company called Natera is building a blood test that hunts for traces of many cancers at once — and the FDA has now granted it Breakthrough Device status, a designation reserved for technologies that could change how deadly diseases are diagnosed. The agency reviewed data across 12 cancer types before signing off. The test reads tiny fragments of DNA floating in the blood to spot cancer signals early, when treatment works best.