Invitae: Personalized Cancer Monitoring

Invitae said it has begun offering its Personalized Cancer Monitoring (PCM) platform as a laboratory-developed test within an early access program for academic and pharmaceutical researchers. The test for detecting minimal residual disease and monitoring cancer recurrence involves whole-exome sequencing a patient's tumor biopsy and blood sample to select 50 variants that can "fingerprint" the tumor, the company said in a statement. These variants are then included on a personalized ctDNA panel that can be used longitudinally to gauge how well the patient's tumor has responded to treatment or for signs of cancer recurrence. Invitae will perform the test in a centralized lab in Iselin, New Jersey, with the goal of detecting residual disease or cancer recurrence before standard of care methods, such as imaging.