Guardant Health raised $50 million Series C round, bringing the company’s total funding to date to just under $100 million. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round with participation by Formation 8 and existing investors Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital.
The Guardant360 cancer blood test has been enhanced with the increased number of clinically relevant genes and the types of alterations tested.The new capital comes on the heels of the strong market demand for the company’s Guardant360 product, the comprehensive biopsy-free cancer test that identifies critical tumor genomic alterations in real-time. Guardant plans to use the funds to expand the availability of Guardant360, and for continued investment in the acceleration of its product roadmap to transform cancer into a manageable disease.
The company also announced significant enhancements to its Guardant360 cancer blood test by increasing the number of clinically relevant genes and the types of alterations tested. The 68 gene panel now includes all NCCN recommended genomic biomarkers, including clinically relevant gene mutations, insertions/deletions, amplifications and fusions. Guardant Health’s proprietary single-molecule sensitive Digital Sequencing technology powers the blood test.
“For many decades the medical industry has based treatment primarily on a single point in time: that of initial diagnosis and tissue biopsy. Now, Guardant360 enables doctors to track the genomic evolution of cancer so that it can be adaptively managed,” said Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health CEO. “In our first 1000 commercial tests, we are finding cases of actionable alterations that may have been missed as a result of outdated or unobtainable biopsies. With this new funding, we can scale our operations to meet the significant demand for our biopsy-free blood test and help physicians identify effective treatments for their patients.”