Sponsored content brought to you by   For those in remission from cancer, the threat of relapse looms like a sword over Damocles. Too often, tumor cells will evolve during treatment, accumulating mutations that enable therapeutic resistance and survival when the rest of the malignancy has gone. Though treatment can…

Minimal residual disease (MRD) testing is not new. Pioneered by scattered research groups more than 30 years ago, it spread rapidly from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, when it was adopted as standard practice for the clinical monitoring of virtually all childhood and many adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)…

In a new study presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting, researchers have confirmed the effectiveness of two liquid biopsy tests in identifying patients at high risk of cervical cancer recurrence after completing chemoradiation. The tests, a digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) and a sequencing test…

Results from a pooled analysis of more than 5,100 breast cancer patients from six countries found residual cancer burden (RCB) continuous index and classification were independently and strongly prognostic for all breast cancer phenotypes. The results of this multi-institution collaboration were presented by W. Fraser Symmans, M.D., professor of Pathology at…

Veracyte announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire C2i Genomics, expanding its diagnostics platform to include whole-genome minimal residual disease (MRD) testing capabilities from cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in liquid biopsies. C2i’s MRD solution requires less than a tube of blood (as little as 3–4 mL blood or 1–2…

The terms minimal residual disease, measurable residual disease, and molecular residual disease, interchangeably referred to as MRD, denote what is left after cancer treatment with curative intent. Originally used to monitor patients with hematologic malignancies, MRD is becoming increasingly important in the field of solid tumor oncology because of its…

This interview has been edited for clarity. TwinStrand Biosciences technology, duplex sequencing, can be applied to many diverse areas. The three main buckets the company focuses on are genetic toxicology, cell and gene therapy, and minimal residual disease in cancer. IPM spoke with the company’s CEO, Jesse Salk, to learn…

Caris Life Sciences says the eye-popping $890 million growth equity round it completed this week will enable it to support the commercialization and launch of its early detection blood-based pan-cancer test. The financing, Caris says, will give it the capital needed for bringing to market a first-in-class liquid biopsy platform…

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are investigating the inherited genetics of childhood leukemia and how particular gene variations can affect treatment outcomes. The research showed that an inherited variation in the GATA3 gene strongly influences early response to chemotherapy and is linked to relapse in children with acute…

Epigenetics technology developer Base Genomics said today it was launched with an $11 million oversubscribed seed funding round, with proceeds intended toward commercializing a liquid biopsy based on DNA methylation sequencing. Base Genomics said the blood test will be designed to apply Base Genomics’ TET-assisted pyridine borane sequencing (TAPS) technology,…

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) plans to use Natera's Signatera custom circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assay in a Phase II study designed to assess the pharma giant’s cancer immunotherapy Opdivo (nivolumab) as an adjuvant treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Under the collaboration, whose value was not disclosed, BMS will use…

Adaptive Biotechnologies said today it will partner with Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Biotech to develop its next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based clonoSEQ Assay as a companion diagnostic in ongoing and future clinical trials assessing Darzalex (daratumumab) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The value of the collaboration was not disclosed. The companies…

The standard-of-care treatment for older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) of venetoclax combined with a hypomethylating agent (HMA)—referred to as VEN-HMA— prolonged patient survival of roughly one-quarter of patients aged 80 to 90. The findings, published in the journal Blood Neoplasia, show the potential for oncologists to consider using…

The use of liquid biopsies, particularly as a non-invasive diagnostic tool to detect cancer, has accelerated over the past ten years. While its applications in pathologies such as lung cancer or as a tool for detecting minimal residual disease (MRD) are well-documented, researchers continue to broaden its use in hard-to-detect…

Gilad Almogy, PhD, always had a goal of producing a machine that would enable affordable, high-throughput sequencing when he founded Ultima Genomics eight years ago. The company has now reached the milestone of producing a machine that can sequence a genome for $100. Almogy, CEO of the company, studied quantum…