Description
Grail (styled GRAIL) is an American biotechnology company, which began in 2015 as a start-up in San Francisco, California, seeking to develop an early cancer screening test for people who do not have symptoms. Its headquarters is in Menlo Park, California, with locations in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and the UK. Its parent company is Illumina in San Diego, California.
Their liquid biopsy, which was launched in June 2021 and is called the 'Galleri test', detects fragments of DNA in a blood sample via next-generation sequencing, which identifies DNA methylation, distinct patterns of which are associated with particular cancers, potentially allowing for the early detection of cancer and providing information of the origin of the cancer. It is one of three multicancer screening tests under investigation; the other two being the CancerSEEK assay and the PanSeer assay.
On 27 November 2020, Grail announced a commercial partnership with the National Health Service (England) (NHS), to trial the Galleri test, reporting in 2026.
