Cancer-Screening Startup GRAIL Files for IPO

Healthcare start-up, GRAIL Inc, is the latest biotech company to file for U.S. IPO (Initial Public Offering) on Sept 9, 2020. It is a cancer-testing company headquartered in Menlo Park, California, developing products for early detection of multiple cancer types.

By Sahana Shankar, Ph.D. Candidate

GRAIL was founded in 2016 by Illumina Inc to leverage their sequencing technology to enable pan-cancer screening tests by identifying cancer-specific biomarkers. The aim was to detect cancer in asymptomatic individuals through blood screens of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) by sequencing at higher depths. Its costs limit sequencing depth. However, GRAIL’s unique association with Illumina allows them to perform ultra-deep sequencing, combined with population-scale clinical studies that improve the signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity of mutation detection cost-prohibitive. GRAIL’s vision was to develop products for early detection of all types of cancers to improve survival outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

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GRAIL was initially funded by Illumina, ARCH Venture Partners with participation from Jeff Bezos’s, Bill Gates’s and Sutter Hill investment ventures. GRAIL filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to offer stocks with a placeholder amount of $100 million. However, the number of shares on offer and their price range have not yet been confirmed. Illumina remains the major stakeholder with 14.6% stake. GRAIL enters the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “GRAL” with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and BofA Securities listed as lead bookrunners.

Related article: A New Blood Test Aids in the Early Detection of Over 50 Cancers

References:

1. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-grail-ipo-idUSKBN2601O7
2. https://grail.com/press-releases/grail-announces-filing-of-registration-statement-for-proposed-initial-public-offering/
3. https://grail.com/press-releases/illumina-forms-new-company-enable-early-cancer-detection-via-blood-based-screening/

Author

Sahana Shankar