about us
“The greatest need we have today in the human cancer problem, except for a universal cure, is a method for detecting cancer before there are any clinical signs or symptoms.”
Sidney Farber, M.D.
Father of modern chemotherapy
November 1962
pioneering the detection of early cancer
Harbinger Health is pioneering the detection of early cancer and enabling foundationally new approaches to cancer screening, diagnosis and management. Incubated within Flagship Pioneering for three years before launching in 2021, Harbinger combines advances in artificial intelligence with proprietary insights into the biology of the beginnings of cancer to identify cancer before it is visible or symptomatic with the aim of developing a low-cost, multi-cancer blood test.
A harbinger is a “forerunner, that which precedes and gives notice of the coming of another.” We not only are working to identify the harbinger – the biological programs present in the earliest forms of cancer – but seek to be the harbinger, to be the forerunner which will usher in the future of healthcare.
At Harbinger, we intend to lead in shaping this future – creating a proactive paradigm so that people can live cancer-free for longer, adding years to life and life to years. We envision a future where, instead of keeping cancer from spreading, it could be kept from forming, making a cancer diagnosis a routine health problem to be addressed rather than a life-altering event to be feared with profound implications for people, healthcare systems and societies.
Our answer to the problem of late cancer detection and unacceptable patient prognoses starts with our proprietary solutions for the future of cancer pre-emption. Beginning with blood-based tests, we will enable cancer detection before it is visible. By identifying biological programs rooted in cancer's origins, we can enable identification of early stage and pre-disease. Through this new pathway for cancer diagnosis and early therapeutic interventions, Harbinger Health has the potential to fundamentally change cancer care, for everyone.
Tony Shuber
Anthony (Tony) Shuber serves as Chief Innovation Officer at Harbinger Health. He is a scientific leader in the life sciences industry with over 25 years of experience in Diagnostics and Applied Genomics, and is the co-founder of several companies, including EXACT Science Corporation and Predictive Biosciences. Tony was most recently President and CTO of Genetics Research, LLC and Stitch Bio.
A prolific inventor, visionary and problem solver, Tony is the holder of over 100 issued and pending patents and has numerous publications in such prestigious journals as The New England Journal of Medicine. Mr. Shuber is the inventor behind well-known innovations in molecular diagnostics that are standard of practice tests today including ColoGuard, a test for early identification of colorectal cancer. Tony also holds advisory and Board of Director positions and is well known in the venture capital community. He earned his undergraduate (BS in Biology) and graduate (MS in Molecular and Developmental Biology) degrees from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
