Liquid biopsy tests find and measure cancer from a blood sample instead of a tissue biopsy. They are moving from choosing cancer drugs to finding cancer early and watching for its return. Screening and minimal residual disease (MRD) testing now drive the market, while therapy selection, the original use, is maturing.Liquid biopsy is moving from choosing cancer drugs to finding cancer early and watching for its return. The market doubles from $8.5 billion in 2026 to $17.5 billion in 2031, growing 15.4% a year.
Market Size and Growth Outlook
This report estimates the global liquid biopsy market at $8.5 billion in 2026, doubling to $17.5 billion in 2031 at 15.4% a year.Market Size 2026: USD $8.5B Market Size 2031: USD $17.5B CAGR: 15.4%
Key Market Drivers
- Screening Is Where the Growth Is: Single-cancer and multi-cancer screening rise from 18% to 34% of the market and supply 48% of the $9 billion of new spending. Two blood tests for colorectal screening are now FDA approved, and Medicare can cover approved multi-cancer early detection tests from 2029.
- MRD Is the Largest Single Source of Growth: MRD and monitoring adds $2.6 billion to reach $4.8 billion in 2031. Signatera CDx became the first FDA-approved MRD companion diagnostic in May 2026.
- Therapy Selection Is Maturing: Therapy selection remains the largest application at $5.5 billion in 2031, but grows only 6.3% a year and falls from 48% to 31% of the market.
- The Epigenomic Shift: Tests that read methylation and fragment patterns grow 28% a year, from 16% to 27% of the market, reaching $4.7 billion.
- Central Laboratories Capture the Value: Tests run in manufacturers' own laboratories rise from 62% to 68% of the market. Roche's plan for a hospital-run MRD test is the first serious challenge to that model.
Market Segmentation
The report forecasts the market by cancer type, application, analyte, technology platform and product, for 14 countries and regions, from a 2026 base year.Competitive Landscape
Natera is the MRD leader with Signatera, now strengthened by Foresight's phased-variant technology and the first MRD companion diagnostic approval. Guardant Health spans therapy selection, MRD and screening, with the new Guardant360 Liquid CDx and the Shield colorectal screening test. GRAIL's Galleri won a favourable FDA panel vote, but the NHS-Galleri trial missed its primary endpoint, so timing of approval and Medicare coverage is the key risk. Abbott (Exact Sciences) brings stool and blood screening, MRD and a multi-cancer test together under one of the largest diagnostics sales forces. Roche and Foundation Medicine are buying SAGA to build an MRD test that hospital laboratories can run on Roche instruments, and Tempus AI is acquiring Personalis for about $1.5 billion to add whole-genome MRD to its data platform. The report profiles 90 companies.Questions This Report Answers
- How fast will blood-based screening grow, and when will Medicare pay for multi-cancer tests?
- How large can MRD testing become now that it guides treatment as well as prognosis?
- Which analytes and technologies will win: mutations, methylation, fragments, CTCs or vesicles?
- Will central laboratories keep their hold on the market, or will testing move to hospital laboratories?
- How large is each country market, and how fast is China growing?
What's Inside
407 pages, 24 chapters, 51 tables and 59 figures. Approved and launched test landscape, clinical evidence and pipeline, companion diagnostics and pharma partnerships, regulation and reimbursement, intellectual property and pricing, a China chapter and a deal database. 10 market-moving developments from 2025 and 2026, SWOT, Porter's Five Forces and strategic recommendations, and 90 company profiles.Table of Contents
Companies Mentioned
- Abbott Laboratories
- AccuraGen
- AcuamarkDx
- Admera Health
- Agilent Technologies
- Amoy Diagnostics (AmoyDx)
- AnchorDx (Kindstar Globalgene)
- ANGLE plc
- ARUP Laboratories
- Beckman Coulter (Danaher)
- Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD)
- BGI Genomics
- BillionToOne
- Bioarray Genetics
- Biocartis
- Biodesix
- BioFluidica
- Biolidics
- bioMérieux
- Bioneer
- Bio-Rad Laboratories
- Bio-Techne
- BioView
- Burning Rock Biotech
- CareDx
- Caris Life Sciences
- CellCarta
- CellMax Life
- Cepheid (Danaher)
- Circulogene
- Cizzle Biotechnology
- Clinical Genomics
- Datar Cancer Genetics
- Delfi Diagnostics
- Dxcover
- Element Biosciences
- Epic Sciences
- Eurofins Scientific
- Exact Sciences (Abbott)
- Fluxion Biosciences
- Foundation Medicine (Roche)
- Freenome
- FYR Diagnostics (FYR Bio)
- GeneFirst
- Genetron Health
- GRAIL
- Guardant Health
- HansaBioMed Life Sciences (Lonza)
- Harbinger Health
- HLB Panagene
- iCellate Medical
- Illumina
- INOVIQ
- Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine
- Labcorp
- Lucence
- MDxHealth
- Menarini Silicon Biosystems
- MilliporeSigma (Merck KGaA)
- Miltenyi Biotec
- miR Scientific
- Mirxes
- Myriad Genetics
- Natera
- NeoGenomics
- Novogene
- On-Chip Biotechnologies
- Oncocyte
- OncoDNA
- Oxford Nanopore Technologies
- Personalis (Tempus AI)
- Predicine
- Promega
- Qiagen
- Quest Diagnostics
- Rarecells Diagnostics
- RareCyte
- Revvity
- Roche Diagnostics
- SAGA Diagnostics (Roche)
- ScreenCell
- Siemens Healthineers
- Singlera Genomics
- Standard BioTools
- Sysmex (Sysmex Inostics)
- Tempus AI
- Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Ultima Genomics
- Veracyte
- VolitionRx
Table Information
| Report Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| No. of Pages | 407 |
| Published | October 2026 |
| Forecast Period | 2026 - 2031 |
| Estimated Market Value ( USD | $ 8.5 Billion |
| Forecasted Market Value ( USD | $ 17.5 Billion |
| Compound Annual Growth Rate | 15.4% |
| Regions Covered | Global |
| No. of Companies Mentioned | 90 |


