Guardant Health announces broad, long-term alliance with Pfizer Oncology supporting multiple clinical programs with the Guardant360 assay

News provided by

Jun 03, 2017, 08:00 ET

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardant Health announced a broad, long-term alliance with Pfizer Oncology to support several clinical trial programs. A non-exclusive agreement expanding the interaction between Guardant Health and Pfizer Oncology establishes the Guardant360^® assay as a preferred circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) test for liquid biopsy specimens collected in various Pfizer clinical trials.

Clinical trial progress is often impeded by the need to collect tumor tissue samples for genotyping. Difficulty in acquiring these samples can slow trial enrollment and prevent researchers from quickly and easily collecting important data. Comprehensive analysis of genomic alterations in cancer found in ctDNA obtained via a simple blood draw can eliminate the need for an invasive biopsy to acquire a tissue specimen. Beyond speeding trial enrollment, this allows for rapid insights into patient response and the underlying tumor evolution, providing a deeper understanding of tumor and therapy biology and the mechanisms of drug resistance.

"We are thrilled to be going beyond our previously announced collaboration with Pfizer on GuardantOMNI to now establish a long-term alliance that more broadly supports the Pfizer Oncology pipeline." said Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health's CEO and co-founder. "We believe the rapid insights ctDNA can provide in clinical trials of targeted therapies will speed the development of drugs in Pfizer Oncology's pipeline to bring safe and effective therapies to patients sooner."

The Guardant360 assay is the most widely utilized comprehensive liquid biopsy. It was introduced in 2014 and has since been ordered more than 40,000 times by more than 3,500 oncologists. The Guardant360 assay includes 73 genes associated with cancer, and can detect single nucleotide variants, insertion and deletion events, copy number amplifications, and fusions.

About Guardant Health
Guardant Health is focused on conquering cancer by using its breakthrough blood-based assays, vast data sets, and advanced analytics. Using both molecular and digital tools, Guardant Health is addressing challenges across the cancer care continuum. The company has raised more than $500 million from leading investors. Its first product, the Guardant360 assay, came to market in 2014, and is now the most widely ordered comprehensive liquid biopsy commercially available. In 2016, it announced Project LUNAR, an effort to apply Guardant Health's technology platform to early detection, recurrence monitoring, and assessing minimal residual disease. Guardant Health and Guardant360 are registered trademarks of Guardant Health, Inc.

SOURCE Guardant Health