AZN Astrazeneca Plc

By Colin Kellaher

Cancer-testing company Grail Inc. on Monday said it formed collaborations with Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca PLC and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. to study Grail's technology for the detection of the small number of cancer cells left in the body after treatment, known as minimal residual disease.

Grail, which has developed a blood test aimed at the early detection of dozens of cancers, said it will work with the biopharmaceutical giants to evaluate the benefits of using its technology to find minimal residual disease after treatment or to detect early recurrent cancers.

Grail said its targeted methylation platform could enable a blood-based minimal residual disease detection assay for solid tumors that perform comparably to currently available tissue-based assays, while reducing complexity and processing times.

Gene-sequencing company Illumina Inc., which spun out Grail in 2016 and still owns about 14.6% of the company, in September said it would pay about $7.1 billion in cash and stock to acquire the rest of the company in a deal expected to close later this year.

Grail separately said it expects to introduce its multi-cancer early detection blood test, dubbed Galleri, in the second quarter.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 11, 2021 13:40 ET (18:40 GMT)

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