In an all-stock transaction, Natera, which is the cell-free DNA and precision medicine company, has gone ahead and acquired Foresight Diagnostics, which is a business known for its ultrasensitive molecular residual disease – MRD detection.
Notably, the transaction comprises an upfront payment of $275m and another $175m in earnouts that are based on revenue as well as reimbursement milestones.
It goes on to combine the operational and commercial infrastructure of Natera along with the phased variant technology of Foresight, thereby expanding the reach of customized MRD testing throughout solid tumors and lymphoma.
The acquisition of Foresight, a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments – CLIA-registered lab, by Natera adds the circulating tumor DNA – ctDNA-based MRD tests of the former to its portfolio.
These tests make use of the PhasED-Seq technology, which goes on to target phased variants and has also gone ahead and demonstrated a limit of detection 95 – LOD95 of 0.3 parts per million, having detection capabilities that are below 0.1 parts per million.
It is well to be noted that Foresight was founded by Ash Alizadeh, Maximilian Diehn, and David Kurtz, the Stanford University physicians and scientists, along with Jake Chabon, the Foresight CEO and chief scientific officer.
Steve Chapman, Natera CEO, said that the phased variant technology of Natera and its leadership when it comes to lymphoma complements the strong capabilities in personalized MRD testing by Natera, therefore improving the value they can deliver to patients, biopharma partners, and clinicians, as well as the broader healthcare system.
The integration is going to see phased variants incorporated into the Signatera platform of Natera, hence further distinguishing its test performance throughout the solid tumors.
Apparently, the improved platform is said to be immediately made available for research use by academics as well as biopharma partners and is expected to get introduced for clinical usage somewhere around 2026.
The expertise of Foresight in B-cell lymphomas, which is a group with over 75,000 new cases every year in the US, is indeed a major component of the transaction.
The CLARITY MRD assay for lymphoma from Foresight is being made use of in three prospective MRD-driven clinical studies in order to guide the decisions pertaining to patient treatment.
The assay is going to join the ctDNA-based MRD tests portfolio of Natera and also continue supporting the translational research and clinical studies, along with future applications.
Interestingly, the legal counsel for Natera was given by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Foresight was advised by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Centerview Partners served as the financial adviser.