Illumina building

Illumina forms spin-off to develop cancer detection test

pharmafile | January 14, 2016 | News story | Research and Development Cancer, Illumina, cancer detection, gene sequencing, liquid biospy, oncology 

Global gene sequencing company Illumina has won over $100 million in investment from high-profile investors, to create a company “to enable cancer screening from a simple blood test.”

Grail will use sequencing technology provided by Illumina to “develop a pan-cancer screening test by directly measuring circulating nucleic acids in blood.” It is backed by funding from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Silicon Valley private equity firm Sutter Hill Ventures.

Illumina chief executive Jay Flatley says Grail intends to ‘revolutionise cancer screening’ in people with no symptoms of the disease, said, identifying the disease “at the earliest stages when it can be cured.”

“Detecting cancer at the earliest stages dramatically increases long-term survival,” the company says in a statement. “Hence the successful development of a pan-cancer screening test for asymptomatic individuals would make the first major dent in global cancer mortality.”

The test will be a liquid biopsy; a blood analysis that in current medical practice is most often used to monitor existing cancer patients, or to screen for recurrent cancers in people who have already been treated.

It’s not yet clear if screening asymptomatic people will lead to an improvement in cancer outcomes, and the evidence is far from unequivocal. Yet Dr Richard Klausner, senior vice president of Illumina and a former director of the US National Cancer Institute, backed the science behind the liquid biopsy approach, saying: “This is the long-sought holy grail of oncology. It will be like having a ‘molecular stethoscope,’” he adds.

Illumina bosses say the estimated the market for this sort of blood-based early-cancer detection could reach $100 million. Grail hopes to have a viable test on the market by 2019.

“We hope today is a turning point in the war on cancer,” says Flatley. “By enabling the early detection of cancer in asymptomatic individuals through a simple blood screen, we aim to massively decrease cancer mortality by detecting the disease at a curable stage.”

Lilian Anekwe

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