NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Guardant Health said today that they are entering a multi-year partnership that they hope will help accelerate the translation of Guardant's liquid biopsy technology into a standard-of-care tool for guiding the treatment of cancer patients.
Under the terms of the partnership, Guardant will help MD Anderson build multiple on-site liquid biopsy centers in which the center will develop new assays using Guardant's cell-free DNA-sequencing technology.
Guardant and MD Anderson will also jointly fund interventional clinical utility studies to demonstrate how this non-invasive targeted sequencing approach can improve patient outcomes across multiple types and stages of cancer. The research will be designed to support the incorporation of Guardant's test technology into national guidelines and its broad adoption as a standard-of-care tool.
Guardant360 will also become MD Anderson's preferred Liquid biopsy test, and the center's physicians will be able to order it directly through an electronic medical record system, Guardant added.
"While we have seen unprecedented uptake of Guardant360 since its launch as the world's first comprehensive liquid biopsy, we realize we are only scratching the surface of its potential impact on oncology," Guardant CEO Helmy Eltoukhy said in a statement.
According to MD Anderson President Ronald DePinho, the partnership will also contribute to ongoing efforts in the center's Moon Shots Program, which aims to reduce cancer deaths by accelerating the development and implementation of new diagnostics and treatments, particularly tools for prevention and early detection.