Chris, last year you became the CEO of Personalis, but before that, you had worked in other companies that also operate in the field of diagnostics. Can you explain why diagnostics is a passion of yours?
I am passionate about integrating data and information science into healthcare decisions. Diagnostics play a crucial role in understanding a patient's journey, heavily influencing diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring through information about the patient's genetics or cell structure. My career has been thrilling because of the exponential growth in access to genetic information, the adoption of AI in diagnostics, and the shift towards more objective, data-driven healthcare. This movement towards utilizing comprehensive data for better decision-making and patient understanding has been the highlight of my professional life.
Precision oncology continues to unveil more precise therapies. But for this to be successful, it is essential that diagnostics exist to evaluate and predict their effectiveness. Personalis concentrates on revealing the unseen aspects of cancer.
The foundation of your diagnostics technology is something called Minimal Residual Disease (MRD). Is Personalis the only company working with MRD?
While Personalis pioneers in ultra-sensitive MRD detection, we are not alone in this field. The industry's goal is to detect even the faintest recurrence signals, with our approach allowing detection down to one part per million in DNA fragments.
Our ultra-sensitive assays excel in early detection of cancer recurrence, offering a significant advantage by identifying recurrences sooner than traditional methods. This approach differs from efforts to detect cancer before any diagnosis, focusing instead on early detection of recurrence to facilitate timely interventions, staying ahead of cancer progression.
Why did you decide to focus specifically on recurrence?
Cancer detection is inherently tied to sensitivity and specificity. While our technology is advanced and capable of detecting early cancer signs, the cost-effectiveness of wide-scale screening remains a challenge. Our focus is on individuals with a high risk of recurrence, where the value and impact of early detection justify the cost. As technology costs decrease, expanding to broader early detection becomes more feasible.
Could you introduce us to your platforms?
NeXT Personal and ImmunoID NeXT are our primary platforms, with distinct functions and technologies. ImmunoID NeXT focuses on exome-based technology to delve deep into certain genome regions for biopharma partners and clinical trials, offering comprehensive insights for personalized treatment.
NeXT Personal, on the other hand, utilizes whole-genome analysis to create a unique tumor profile for each patient, monitoring through liquid biopsy to detect cancer recurrence with ultra-sensitivity.
How does the ImmunoID NeXT platform assist pharma and biotech companies in drug development?
ImmunoID NeXT enables biopharma companies to identify specific markers affected by their drugs, aiding in the development of personalized biomarkers and determining the right patient populations for treatments. This precision in characterizing patient responses enhances clinical trial effectiveness, allowing companies to focus on participants more likely to benefit from the drugs being tested, thereby increasing the likelihood of trial success.
Sixteen out of the top twenty pharma companies use our platform. Our success with top pharmaceutical companies stems from a combination of published data supporting our product, a dedicated team of sales professionals educating partners about our technology, and the inherent value found in our platform by these companies. We have strategically focused on larger biopharma clients, aligning with our growth trajectory, including a notable increase in revenue last year. This approach has cemented our role as a key player in the diagnostics field, contributing to our overall growth and market penetration.
Can you elaborate on your partnerships?
Our platform's innovation has been instrumental in advancing personal cancer vaccines, particularly highlighted by our collaboration with Moderna. This partnership leverages our ability to deeply analyze tumor samples, contributing significantly to the development of personalized vaccines, which aim to enhance immunotherapy responses. Moderna's success, especially in combination with Merck's IO therapy, underscores the potential of our combined efforts to improve cancer treatment outcomes.
Partnering with Tempus, a leading oncology lab with a vast sales network, represents a strategic move to efficiently expand our market reach without the need to build our own sales force. This collaboration allows us to leverage Tempus's established connections with oncologists, hospitals, and academic centers, enhancing our ability to introduce NeXT Personal to the market. The partnership will become especially impactful once we achieve Medicare reimbursement for our tests, enabling us to accelerate our technology's adoption in clinics nationwide.
Looking three years into the future, how do you believe Personalis will have contributed to oncology?
Personalis is positioned at the heart of two major advancements in cancer treatment: the shift towards personalized therapies, and the use of diagnostic information through liquid biopsies for patient monitoring.
Our technology plays a pivotal role in developing personalized therapies and in the management of cancer treatment. Three years from now, we expect precision oncology research and practice utilizing our technology everywhere. Three years from now, we anticipate our technology will be broadly utilized in precision oncology research and practice, enabling a deeper understanding of patients' cancer than any other diagnostic tool can provide.
