Tempus is boosting its cancer offerings with a deal to buy out Personalis three years after the pair first teamed up in oncology.
Tempus, which is putting a total enterprise value of $1.5 billion on the table, will snap up Personalis and build on the pair’s first deal that dates back to 2023.
That original tie-up saw Tempus invest in Personalis and also market its NeXT Personal minimal residual disease (MRD) test, a liquid biopsy cancer assay.
This test detects small amounts of tumor DNA that can help track how well a cancer treatment is working, as well as seeking out evidence of a returning or residual cancer.
Tempus will now take full control of that test and the rest of Personalis’ tech as it seeks to bolster its reach in the long-term cancer monitoring business. This will dovetail into Tempus’ AI tech approach that uses data from patients to help doctors and biopharmas find and create new meds and bolster patient care.
"MRD is a large and rapidly growing market with the potential to truly transform how cancer patients are monitored, helping clinicians make faster and more informed decisions when cancer recurs,” said Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of Tempus, in a release.
“Through our existing collaboration with Personalis, we have already demonstrated the strength of combining highly sensitive MRD technology with our commercial infrastructure. With clinical adoption and reimbursement momentum building, we are collectively well positioned to capture this opportunity, which makes this acquisition particularly exciting."
Personalis said in a statement that it made preliminary sales in the second quarter of of $22.4 million and “delivered 10,384 clinical tests, representing a 33% increase in test volumes quarter over quarter.”