Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb To Evaluate GRAIL's Cancer Early Detection Test

(RTTNews) - Healthcare company GRAIL, Inc. announced Monday collaborations with global biopharmaceutical companies Amgen (AMGN), AstraZeneca (AZN), and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) to evaluate GRAIL's methylation-based technology for the detection of minimal residual disease (MRD).

GRAIL has developed and validated a novel approach to detect early cancer signals in blood. Cancer MRD testing is used in clinical and research applications to detect the presence or absence of residual disease.

GRAIL's targeted methylation platform could enable a blood-based MRD detection assay for solid tumors that perform comparably to bespoke tissue-based assays, while reducing complexity and processing times.

Many MRD tests available today for solid tumors require tissue samples and development of patient-specific assays, which contributes to longer turnaround times and potential delay in treatment decisions.