DUBLIN – Thrive Earlier Detection Corp. and its academic and clinical collaborators have provided a first glimpse at the utility of a liquid biopsy test as a screening tool for picking up cancers in an asymptomatic population. In an interim one-year readout of data from the prospective five-year DETECT-A study in 10,000 women, an early version of Thrive’s Cancerseek test picked up 26 cancers ahead of standard-of-care screening, while the latter modality picked up another 24 cancers that Cancerseek missed.
Systematic detection of cancer at earlier stages at a population level could remodel how the medical profession approaches cancer treatment, establishing the potential to reduce cancer mortality by almost one-quarter. That’s according to an analysis based on the latest data from Grail Inc.'s Circulating Cell-free Genome Atlas (CCGA) study.
Liquid biopsy has long been seen as key to the future of cancer diagnostics, treatment and even potentially prevention. But now, startup Karius Inc. has staked out its claim as the first to bring cell-free DNA analysis, which is often used in oncology and prenatal liquid biopsy applications, into the clinic for infectious disease detection, identification and treatment guidance.
Liquid biopsy startup Elypta AB has raised €6.1 million (US$6.72 million) in a late seed financing led by Industrifonden and Sciety. Norrsken Foundation’s newly launched €100 million “impact-first” fund also contributed to the round. The Stockholm-based company plans to use the money to complete development of laboratory kits and software for measurement and analysis of a panel of metabolites it has identified.
SAN FRANCISCO – Guardant Health Inc. has set the standard for liquid biopsy. That success has catapulted the Redwood City, Calif.-based company from an IPO in the fall of 2018 to a current valuation in excess of $7 billion. It has made its name – and much of its revenue – with its Guardant360 test, a molecular diagnostic test that assesses 74 cancer-related genes from the circulating tumor DNA to aid in designing the best treatment for advanced cancer patients with solid tumors.
LONDON – Twenty years on from sequencing of the first draft of the human genome and the associated hype, 2019 was the year that the science of genomics truly began to make an impact in health care.
Rarecyte Inc., a Seattle-based company making products for tissue and cell analysis, reported picking up $22 million in a series F financing round led by Healthquest Capital.
Rarecyte Inc., a Seattle-based company making products for tissue and cell analysis, reported picking up $22 million in a series F financing round led by Healthquest Capital. Also participating in the round were existing investors 5AM Ventures and Ron Seubert, Rarecyte’s founder and chief technology officer. The company plans to use the funds to expand global sales of its instruments and consumables platform in research clinical markets.
The Guardant360 assay accurately detected genomic alterations that permit patient matching to targeted therapies, according to a presentation of the plasmaMATCH study at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The study is the largest ever performed for a liquid biopsy.