Guardant Health Acquires Bellwether Bio to Advance Epigenomic Applications in Early Cancer Detection

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that on March 27, 2019, Guardant Health, a precision oncology company, announced the acquisition of Bellwether Bio and the completion of the definitive agreement. Bellwether Bio is a private company dedicated to improving treatment outcomes for cancer patients by researching the epigenomics of cell-free DNA. The acquisition is expected to be completed in April 2019.

At that time, the Bellwether Bio team will join Guardant Health to further develop its early detection products. The team includes Jay Shendure, M.D., who will serve as a scientific advisor to Guardant Health. Dr. Shendure’s laboratory work on cell-free DNA epigenomics, particularly in nucleosome positioning and fragmentomics, was recognized in an influential 2016 publication in Cell.

Bellwether Bio, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Seattle, USA, is a company developing novel cell-free DNA diagnostic technologies. Bellwether Bio is collaborating with world-leading diagnostic companies to enhance their medical diagnostic platforms.

Guardant Health, headquartered in San Francisco, USA, is a leading precision oncology company. Guardant Health is dedicated to helping patients around the world overcome cancer by leveraging its proprietary blood tests, extensive datasets, and advanced analytics technologies. The company’s oncology platform utilizes its capabilities in technology, clinical development, regulatory affairs, and reimbursement to drive the commercial adoption of precision oncology, improving patient clinical outcomes while reducing healthcare costs.

Dr. AmirAli Talasaz, Co-founder and President of Guardant Health, stated, “We are delighted to welcome the Bellwether Bio team. We are committed to applying precision oncology therapies to the early stages of cancer, and Bellwether Bio will expand our product pipeline. Early studies indicate that incorporating biologically relevant epigenomic information into blood-based tests for early-stage cancer will have a significant impact on subsequent patient treatment.”

Since its establishment in 2012, Guardant Health has completed seven rounds of financing, totaling $550 million. Its investors include Plug and Play, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures.

Guardant Health has also launched the Guardant360 and GuardantOMNI tests, based on liquid biopsy technology, for patients with advanced cancer to monitor residual and recurrent disease and enable early detection screening. Currently, Guardant360 is used by more than 6,000 oncologists worldwide, over 50 biopharmaceutical companies, and 28 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) centers in the United States.

At 3:00 PM on March 31, researchers from Guardant Health and Samsung Medical Center will present preliminary results from the Guardant Lunar Early Cancer Trial at the AACR Annual Meeting in Atlanta. The study demonstrates that incorporating epigenomics into blood-based testing for patients with early-stage cancer effectively enhances the sensitivity of detecting stage I and II colorectal cancer cells.

“Guardant Health’s precision oncology research has made significant progress,” said Rahul Shendure, CEO of Bellwether Bio. “I am also proud of the work the Bellwether Bio team has accomplished to date. The combination of Bellwether Bio and Guardant Health will undoubtedly accelerate the momentum of both companies.”

(Compiled by Wang Shuijing)