Intermountain Health spinoff Culmination Bio announces partnership 

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Intermountain Health spinoff Culmination Bio has announced a partnership with BillionToOne on oncology diagnostics.

BillionToOne leverages Culmination Bio's data lake and patient recruitment capabilities for diagnostic test validation. The tests involve DNA sequencing technologies called NGS. The diagnostic tests are Northstar Select, an NGS-based liquid biopsy test that provides insight into what therapies may be appropriate for patients with stage III/IV cancer, and Northstar Response, a tissue-free, NGS-based treatment response.

Northstar Response quantifies changes in the amount of methylated ctDNA of patients on cancer treatments to inform treatment efficacy in terms of progression, response or stable disease.

WHY THIS MATTERS

BillionToOne is developing these diagnostics to address the challenges associated with accurately profiling cancer to aid in determining the best treatment and then monitoring the response, a critical factor in determining the effectiveness of cancer treatment, the companies said. 

This collaboration comprises two separate projects, making it possible for future regulatory submissions. The first project, with 100 patients, launched in early fall and has already seen progress, with 60 patient samples collected to date, many of which involve rare mutations, Culmination Bio said. 

THE LARGER TREND

In November 2023, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Amgen Ventures invested $10 million in Culmination Bioentures. In January, the company announced a multiyear R&D partnership with Merck to study autoimmune diseases. 

Culmination Bio acts as a "search engine" for clinical and biospecimen patient data. It has data and physical biosamples from the past 40 years.

The Intermountain Healthcare company collaborates with commercial partners, including technology and biopharmaceutical companies, to provide insights, therapeutic targets, diagnostic opportunities and care-process models. 

ON THE RECORD

"Our partnership with BillionToOne demonstrates our commitment to advancing healthcare in support of innovative diagnostic solutions," said Mark Oldroyd, chief commercial officer of Culmination Bio. "By providing access to our research-focused, biospecimen-based data, we're not only accelerating novel scientific development but paving the way for improving diagnostics which promise to transform oncology care."
 
"Culmination Bio's unique resources have been instrumental in overcoming the challenge of sourcing high-quality specimens and data for our validation studies," said Gary Palmer, CMO, Oncology of BillionToOne.
 
 
 
 

Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org