Guardant Health Announces Milestone Partnership with Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and CHICAGO, Nov. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardant Health Inc. announced today a comprehensive partnership with Northwestern University that will make Guardant360 the preferred liquid biopsy test for patients with advanced cancer treated at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. The agreement also covers multiple large-scale prospective clinical trials that will apply Guardant Health's technology to a variety of indications across the cancer-care continuum.

"As the Lurie Cancer Center OncoSET (Sequence, Evaluate, Treat) Program develops into an international leader in precision medicine, establishing a partnership for a liquid biopsy test was important," said Leonidas Platanias, MD, PhD, director of the Lurie Cancer Center. "Our program will benefit from Guardant Health's non-invasive technology. At the same time, we will promote and advance our precision oncology research by conducting large-scale prospective studies."

Together, Guardant Health and the Lurie Cancer Center will track the outcomes of patients with advanced cancer whose treatment selection was guided by Guardant360. In addition, every patient evaluated within the Lurie Cancer Center OncoSET Program will be enrolled in one of several prospective clinical trials exploring additional clinical uses of liquid biopsy.

Guardant360, the first comprehensive liquid biopsy, was introduced in 2014. It has been used by more than 2,500 oncologists to identify somatic genomic alterations associated with targeted therapies in the tumor DNA of more than 20,000 patients with advanced cancer. 

"The future of cancer diagnostics lies in minimally-invasive sampling methods and sophisticated, sensitive testing. With Guardant Health's liquid biopsy, we can access our patients' comprehensive genomic information with minimal risk," said Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, Associate Director for Translational Research and Precision Medicine at the Lurie Cancer Center, and Director of the OncoSET Program. "This collaboration will help us determine the value of prospective molecular monitoring in patients with advanced disease by exploring the potential of liquid biopsy specifically, and precision oncology in general, to impact lives."

"We are excited to partner with Northwestern, one of the world's leading cancer centers," said Helmy Eltoukhy, PhD, Guardant Health's co-founder and CEO. "Lurie Cancer Center clinicians have already used our technology to guide treatment for hundreds of patients, and this agreement speaks to the utility of our technology. It demonstrates a real desire among oncologists and their patients for a 'blood-first' liquid biopsy approach to advanced cancer genotyping."

About Lurie Cancer Center

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, one of only 47 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the country, is committed to being a national leader in the battle to overcome cancer. To this end, the Lurie Cancer Center is dedicated to scientific discovery, advancing medical knowledge, providing compassionate, state-of-the-art cancer care, and training the next generation of clinicians and scientists.  For more information, visit cancer.northwestern.edu.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., is focused on developing breakthrough diagnostics that can transform cancer into a manageable disease. Guardant Health was founded in 2012 by a team of entrepreneurs with expertise in next-generation sequencing, single-cell genomics, and cancer diagnostics. The company has raised more than $200 million from leading venture capital firms. Its first product, Guardant360, came to market in 2014, and is now the most validated and sensitive comprehensive liquid biopsy commercially available.

SOURCE Guardant Health

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