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Grail is a biotechnology company founded in 2016 as a spinoff of Illumina Inc and initially headed by Jeffrey Huber and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Grail is developing a blood test capable of detecting early-stage cancer. The company is trying to develop intelligent models capable of producing clinically relevant information for early cancer detection through obtaining large amounts of tumor genome data through high-intensity sequencing and analyzing that data after combining it with results from population-scale clinical trials.
The Circulating Cell-free genome Atlas Study is designed to help characterize the genomic cancer signals in blood through analyzing cell-free nucleic acid (cfNA) profiles of people living with and without cancer. The study analyzed the results of approximately 15,000 people living in the United States and Canada in 142 locations. All patients enrolled in the study are required to follow up after 5 years to collect their clinical trial data. Grail does not have the final results of the study (as of August 2019) because their study is still in the follow-up phase.
The STRIVE Study enrolled about 100,000 women at the time of their screening mammogram for a prospective, observational, longitudinal, cohort study. During their mammogram the women were asked to fill out a health questionnaire, provide a blood sample, and were told they would be followed up with after five years to obtain their clinical outcome data; which includes cancer diagnosis. The information obtained from the STRIVE Study will be used to validate a blood test for the early detection of several cancer types. The STRIVE Study is currently in the follow-up phase (as of August 2019).
The SUMMIT Study seeks to obtain clinical information regarding people at risk of smoking related cancers to help evaluate and improve their cancer detecting blood test. Approximately 50,000 men and women between the ages of 55 and 75 who did not have any types of cancer at the time of enrolment, and approximately half of the study participants were at high risk for lung and other forms of cancer due to their smoking histories. Participants in the SUMMIT study are required to have an annual check-up following their initial enrolment and will be followed up with after 5 years by using their national health registries and medical records. The SUMMIT Study is still enrolling participants (as of August 2019).
On May 31, 2017 Grail merged with a Chinese startup called Cirina to help expand its global production capacity. Cirina, which was founded by Dennis Lo of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and raised $12 million in a Series A financing round in 2014, will operate as a subsidiary of Grail.
On January 12, 2016 Grail closed their series A funding round with $100 million in funding from Illumina, Stutter Hill Ventures, Biomatics Capital Partners, Bezos Expeditions, ARCH Venture Partners, and Bill Gates.
On November 22, 2017 Grail closed their series B funding round with $1.2 billion in funding from ARCH Venture Partners, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Dentsu Ventures and Glen Kacher.
On May 21, 2018 Grail closed their series C funding round with $300 million in funding from WuXi NextCode, Sequoia Capital China, IBC International, HuangPu River Capital, Hillhouse Capital Group, China Merchants Securities, Blue Pool Capital, Ally Bridge Group, and 6 Dimensions Capital.
