Lawmakers Press HHS for National Liver Cancer Surveillance Standard as U.S. Deaths Near 31,000

Helio Genomics backs Bacon–Carey letter to Secretary Kennedy; company says every high-risk patient should be surveyed and guidelines should include a single-cancer blood test built for liver cancer.

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A pair of lawmakers is pressing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make liver cancer surveillance a national priority, warning that Americans with cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B are too often diagnosed only after potentially curative surgery or transplant is no longer possible.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH) made the request in a letter to Kennedy.¹ Helio Genomics, which markets a blood test for hepatocellular carcinoma, said it is engaged with that effort and called the letter a chance to fix what it described as a policy gap, not a science gap.

The American Cancer Society projects 42,340 new cases of liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancer in the United States in 2026 and 30,980 deaths.² Five-year relative survival is 22 percent overall and 37 percent for localized disease. After transplant for early-stage cancer, ACS cites survival of 60 to 70 percent.³

"Patients die of a cancer we already know how to find," said Bharat Tewarie, M.D., chief executive of Helio Genomics. "Every high-risk patient, not a fraction of them, should be in surveillance. And the standard should include a single-cancer blood test designed for the cirrhotic liver, so cancer can be found when curative options may still be possible."

Specialty societies already recommend checks every six months for people with cirrhosis of any cause and for many patients with chronic hepatitis B.⁴ The Task Force recommends screening for hepatitis B and C infection but has no recommendation on watching those same patients, or others with cirrhosis, for liver cancer.⁵

Most never get the scans the guidelines already describe. Population studies have found regular surveillance in as few as 9 percent of people with cirrhosis; a systematic review put overall use below one in four.⁸ Ultrasound, the usual tool, also misses the tumors that matter most. In Helio's CLiMB trial, published in the Journal of Hepatology in May, ultrasound detected none of the cancers measuring 2 centimeters or smaller, while HelioLiver detected four times as many Stage I cancers as ultrasound.⁶

Bacon and Carey asked Kennedy for a single directive making surveillance a Task Force priority for Americans with cirrhosis or high-risk chronic hepatitis B.¹ "A USPSTF recommendation would bring immediate and tangible benefit to the millions of Americans with cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis B, precisely the population most in need of targeted, life-saving surveillance," the letter said.

Helio is calling for a national standard built on two actions: place every high-risk patient who remains eligible for treatment into surveillance and include a purpose-built blood test capable of finding liver tumors early enough for ablation, resection or transplant, even in a cirrhotic liver.

HelioLiver^™ is available nationwide as a laboratory-developed test.

About Helio Genomics
Helio Genomics is an Irvine, Calif.-based cancer diagnostics company working toward a future in which cancer is detected early enough to save lives. The company is building an AI-powered blood surveillance platform for at-risk patients. Its advanced multi-analyte blood-based platform harnesses machine learning and deep learning to detect cancer biomarkers, enabling clinicians and patients to respond decisively against cancer.

About HelioLiver™
HelioLiver™, Helio Genomics' lead product, is a blood-based test for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer. It combines cell-free DNA methylation patterns, protein biomarkers, and patient demographics using a proprietary AI algorithm. In a prospective clinical study, it outperformed traditional ultrasound in identifying small tumors in high-risk patients.⁶ This simple blood draw addresses screening barriers, boosting early detection rates and improving outcomes for individuals with risk factors for liver cancer, including liver cirrhosis (from hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcohol, obesity, or MASLD). Clinically validated in multi-center studies involving thousands of patients, Helio Genomics is expanding its commercial footprint to combat this pressing health challenge. HelioLiver is a laboratory-developed test.

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References

1. Letter from Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH) to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
2. American Cancer Society. Key Statistics About Liver Cancer. 2026 estimates: about 42,340 new cases and about 30,980 deaths. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/liver-cancer/about/what-is-key-statistics.html
3. American Cancer Society. Liver Cancer Survival Rates. Diagnoses 2014–2020: 22% all stages; 37% localized; 60–70% after transplant for early-stage disease. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/liver-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates.html
4. Singal AG, et al. AASLD Practice Guidance on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatology. 2023;78(6):1922-1965.
5. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Recommendation topics include hepatitis B and C screening; no recommendation on HCC surveillance. https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation-topics
6. Taggart DJ, et al. A multi-analyte cfDNA-based blood test for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Journal of Hepatology. Published online May 6, 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2026.04.012.
7. Helio Genomics. https://heliogenomics.com
8. Wolf E, et al. Use of hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance in patients with cirrhosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hepatology. 2021;73(2):713-725.

SOURCE Helio Genomics