Dive Brief:
- Freenome has raised $254 million to support the development of single- and multi-cancer early detection blood tests, the company said Thursday.
- The investment comes two months after Freenome started a second registrational study, adding a lung cancer trial to a colorectal cancer program that was scheduled to end in December 2023.
- Roche, which owns cancer test company Foundation Medicine, led the financing round. Quest Diagnostics also participated and said it is looking forward to “collaborating with Freenome to advance the potential of their breakthrough multiomics technology for multi-cancer screening.”
Dive Insight:
Freenome, like other liquid biopsy developers such as Grail, has repeatedly raised large financing rounds to fund studies to validate its technology. Freenome’s funding passed the $1 billion mark in January 2022, when Roche invested $290 million weeks after the liquid biopsy company raised $300 million in a series D round.
The money has enabled Freenome to advance technology for detecting cell-free biomarkers that show a patient may have cancer. Since starting out in 2014, the company has worked to analyze DNA, RNA, proteins and more using machine learning to detect signs of tumors.
Freenome is now validating the technology. The company completed enrollment in its more than 30,000-subject colorectal cancer study in May 2022, positioning it to show the sensitivity and specificity of a blood test that could compete with products such as Exact Sciences’ stool DNA-based diagnostic Cologuard.
In lung cancer, Freenome’s work to develop a blood test aims to help improve the uptake of screening. In 2022, less than 5% of the people who were eligible for lung cancer screening in the U.S. got tested. Currently, screening is performed using low-dose CT scan.
Freenome’s potential to improve cancer screening has attracted a mix of strategic and financial investors. Roche has a track record of investing in companies with complementary capabilities and, in the case of businesses such as Foundation and Flatiron Health, going on to acquire them outright. In a statement, Matt Sause, CEO of Roche Diagnostics, said “we look forward to expanding our collaboration.”