Dive Brief:
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Guardant Health have forged a multiyear partnership to speed the use of liquid biopsy technology as a standard care in cancer treatment.
- The commercial and R&D deal puts MD Anderson in a small cadre of hospitals with integrated comprehensive liquid biopsy capabilities, the leader in cancer care and research said.
- A liquid biopsy uses a patient’s specimen to quickly identify genetic variants and mutations, sparing the patient a more risky needle or surgical biopsy.
Dive Insight:
Under the agreement, Guardant will assist MD Anderson in building a number of on-site liquid biopsy centers where noninvasive assays will be developed using the Guardant360 digital sequencing technology. The collaboration also calls for jointly funded interventional clinical utility studies to demonstrate the technology’s impact on cancer outcomes.
Earlier this year, liquid biopsies topped ECRI Institute's 2017 list of top 10 list of emerging healthcare technologies.
The liquid biopsy market is expected to reach $1.55 billion by 2021, up from $58 billion in 2016, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets. Driving growth are an increasing number of new cancer cases, benefits of liquid biopsy over conventional methods and availability of funding, among others, the report says. Barriers include regulatory and reimbursement uncertainties.
Major players — in addition to Guardant — include Biocept, Myriad Genetics, Roche, Bio-Rad, Trovagene, Janssen Diagnostics, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and MDxHealth.