UNH Announces 1L Shield Coverage: Another Positive Catalyst, Upside Surprise Sup

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UNH Announces 1L Shield Coverage: Another Positive Catalyst, Upside Surprise Sup

Flash Note Health Care | Life Science & Diagnostic Tools

July 01, 2026

Guardant Health, Inc. Daniel Markowitz Vijay Kumar 212-812-2936 212-653-9033

GH | $150.03 Daniel.Markowitz@evercoreISI.com Vijay.Kumar@EvercoreISI.com

Outperform | Target Price/Base Case: $160.00 Arjun Loke Mackenzie Strehle, PhD

Commentary 646-941-4235 646-712-1346

arjun.loke@evercoreisi.com mackenzie.strehle@evercoreisi.com

UNH Announces 1L Shield Coverage: Another Positive Catalyst, Upside

Surprise Supports our Material #s Upside vs ST

What Happened?

• This morning, UnitedHealthcare updated its Molecular Oncology Testing medical policy, moving CRC

screening with Shield to "proven and medically necessary" as a 1st line (1L) average-risk screening test

o The policy applies to UNH commercial / individual exchange benefit plans, effective 8/1/26

• The update follows Shield's ACS guideline inclusion ~1 month ago (which drives commercial

reimbursement across the ~10-15 ACS-anchored states)… which had recommended Shield as a 2nd line (2L)

option for those who decline or don't complete preferred screening tests (see our note here)

• UNH's prior policy had deemed Shield and other molecular tests "unproven" and "not medically necessary"

due to insufficient evidence

Our Takes:

• It has been a catalyst rich couple of months for GH, with today’s announcement representing yet another

positive catalyst which will help accelerate growth (through both higher adoption + ASPs) and path to

profitability

• In our view, there were several upside surprises to today’s announcement:

o A broad formal coverage policy ahead of USPSTF will lead to upside… vs we had expected more

limited uptake, confined to ACS-linked states