Following days of speculation, Illumina Inc. said today it will acquire liquid biopsy startup Grail Inc. for $8 billion in cash and stock, bringing back into the fold a company it spun out in 2016. The deal gives Illumina a major stake in the race the race to develop a less-invasive way to diagnose cancer. Since spinning out, Grail has raised nearly $2 billion from big-name investors with promises of a blood test for early cancer detection and is hoping to introduce its liquid biopsy as a laboratory-developed test (LTD) as early as next year.

Precision oncology company Genetron Holdings Ltd. will help develop a liquid biopsy-based malignant tumor screening and early detection testing kit based on its mutation capsule technology.

Natera Inc.’s personalized, tumor-informed circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assay, Signatera, accurately and quickly predicted response to immunotherapy across 25 types of cancer, in a study published in Nature Cancer.

Vessi Medical Ltd. has scooped up $1.7 million in series A funding to move forward with a first-in-human study of its minimally invasive bladder cancer device. The trial is set to launch in the first quarter of 2021. Leading the funding round are the Trendlines Group Ltd. and Agriline Ltd. The Trendlines Group already counts Misgav, Israel-based Vessi Medical as part of its portfolio of medical startups.

Foundation Medicine Inc.’s string of 2020 wins continues, with the U.S. FDA giving its thumbs up to Foundationone Liquid CDx, the company’s comprehensive pan-tumor liquid biopsy test.

LONDON – Ion Beam Applications SA (IBA) has taken a giant step into China, sealing a €100 million-plus (US$118.2 million) licensing deal with a local company to manufacture, install and maintain its proton beam cancer therapy systems.

DUBLIN – Liquid biopsy developer Freenome Inc. has – literally – capitalized on its recent proof-of-concept AI-Emerge colorectal cancer (CRC) screening study by raising $270 million in a series C round that will enable the South San Francisco firm to complete its ongoing Preempt CRC registration study and to file for pre-market approval from the FDA.

LONDON – Biofidelity Ltd. has raised US$12 million in a series A, enabling it to start commercialization of a novel, low-cost, chemistry-based diagnostic for detecting all actionable lung cancer mutations. The Cambridge, U.K.-based company claims the test can detect a single molecule of mutated DNA against the background of billions of healthy molecules in a patient sample, without the need for DNA sequencing.

Deep Lens Inc.’s artificial intelligence trial screening and enrollment platform, Viper, will be integrated with Franciscan Health Cancer Center's electronic health record to enable matching of cancer patients with suitable clinical trials starting at diagnosis over the next month. By working together, the two Midwest-based organizations hope to increase the number of patients benefiting from clinical trials and overcome some of the challenges to participation posed by the pandemic.