Cancer Research UK, one of the world’s largest charitable funders of cancer research, its innovation unit, Cancer Research Horizons, and Guardant Health, a precision oncology company, have announced a collaboration to explore the sharing of technologies, data, and insights to advance the development and precision of cancer detection and treatment.
The agreement will enable the parties to discuss opportunities for collaboration to support the charity’s research and clinical development activities, focusing primarily on its clinical trials run by its Centre for Drug Development. This includes the DETERMINE trial – the first UK national precision medicine trial in rare cancers, and other Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons research collaborations.
Additional potential collaboration activities may include sharing data and samples from the Cancer Research UK-funded research network to further develop and validate Guardant’s technologies, as well as explore other projects to accelerate the discovery and development of cancer drugs and diagnostics.
“Partnering with Cancer Research UK grants us with a unique opportunity to further validate Guardant’s unique technologies, including our proprietary InfinityTMplatform, while providing the support needed for those with rare cancers and others who could greatly benefit from precision oncology,” said Helmy Eltoukhy, co-CEO of Guardant Health. “We’re looking forward to learning more throughout this partnership to provide an even higher-level of quality in our tools.”
Through this partnership, Guardant Health will further expand its partnership with one of the world’s leading cancer charities, Cancer Research UK, combining leading edge technology in biotechnology with an expansive reach of more than 200 clinical trials and studies in over a million people in the UK.
“Partnering with Guardant Health brings exciting potential for us to accelerate our work by applying best-in-class data-driven insights and technologies to our detection and treatment studies,” said Tony Hickson, Chief Business Officer for Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons. “Our Centre for Drug Development has an excellent track record in bringing novel therapeutics to first-in-human trials and we look forward to seeing the positive impact this collaboration will have on the Centre’s work and beyond.”
