NEW YORK – Myriad Genetics announced on Tuesday that it plans to launch a clinical trial studying the prognostic and predictive value of molecular residual disease (MRD) testing in collaboration with Japan's National Cancer Center Hospital East (NCCHE).
The SCRUM-MONSTAR-SCREEN-3 study will use Myriad's Precise MRD assay to gather evidence that MRD testing can be broadly applied across cancer types and to patients with different disease severity or staging, and to explore how researchers can use multiomic profiling to develop better personalized treatment and therapeutic strategies. Investigators will longitudinally monitor circulating tumor DNA in approximately 1,200 patients diagnosed with over 20 types of solid tumor and hematological cancers, grouped into three cohorts.
"We are pleased to partner with Myriad, as its MRD assay is uniquely capable of detecting ctDNA at the lowest levels of detection, a necessary attribute for a pan-cancer study," Takayuki Yoshino, director of NCCHE, said in a statement. "This study has the potential to revolutionize the scope of [whole-genome sequencing]-based MRD projects and foster the development of MRD-guided therapeutic strategies for a broad spectrum of cancers."
In early 2023, Myriad announced its plan to soft-launch Precise MRD in the second half of that year, anticipating a full commercial launch in 2025.
The company is also studying the potential for MRD to guide treatment, surveillance, and radiotherapy response in the metastatic renal cell carcinoma setting using its MRD Monitoring Test in collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center.