GRAIL Presents PATHFINDER 2 Results of More Than 35,000 Participants Showing the Galleri® Test Substantially Increased Cancer Detection With Robust Performance and Favorable Safety at 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting
GRAIL Presents PATHFINDER 2 Results of More Than 35,000 Participants Showing the Galleri® Test Substantially Increased Cancer Detection With Robust Performance and Favorable Safety at 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting |
| [31-May-2026] |
The Galleri Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) Test Increased Cancer Detection 6.5 Fold When Added to Recommended Screenings for Breast, Colorectal, Cervical and Lung Cancer 71% of the New Cancers Detected by the Galleri Test Were in Stages I-III MENLO PARK, Calif., May 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- GRAIL, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRAL), a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early when it can be cured, today announced that positive performance and safety results from the analysis of the full 35,878 cohort of its registrational PATHFINDER 2 study are being presented during an oral session at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting[1]. The PATHFINDER 2 study evaluated the safety and performance of the Galleri® multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test when used alongside standard-of-care cancer screenings in the U.S. and Canada. The prospective PATHFINDER 2 study is the largest interventional study of an MCED in North America to date and includes 35,878 participants in a broad, intended-use population of adults aged 50 and older with no clinical suspicion of cancer. "Cancer outcomes depend not only on better treatments, but on finding cancer before it advances and spreads. Earlier detection can open the door to more treatment options at any stage and increase the chance for cure," said Josh Ofman, MD, MSHS, President and CEO-Elect at GRAIL. "These PATHFINDER 2 results add to the growing body of clinical evidence in a large, representative intended-use population showing that the Galleri test can meaningfully increase cancer detection beyond recommended screening with strong performance and a highly favorable safety profile. Along with the NHS-Galleri trial results, these findings reinforce the clinical benefit of Galleri and its potential to transform early cancer detection at population scale." Galleri Increases the Number of Cancers Detected and Can Detect Them Early While effective screening improves early cancer detection, in the U.S., only 14% of all cancers are detected by guideline-recommended screening tests[2]. In PATHFINDER 2, 60% of diagnosed cancers were screen-detected (264/440). Adding Galleri to recommended screenings for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers (USPSTF A and B recommendations) led to a 6.5 fold increase in the number of cancers found by screening. Galleri detected nearly three times as many cancers when added to standard-of-care screening for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers (USPSTF A, B, and C recommendations). More than half (53.0%) of the new cancers detected by Galleri were stage I or II, and 71.3% of these have no USPSTF A and B recommended screening. More than two-thirds (70.9%) of the new cancers detected by Galleri were detected at stages I-III, when treatment with curative intent is more often possible. "PATHFINDER 2 provides important additional data on the performance and safety of MCED testing," said Karthik Giridhar, M.D., assistant professor of oncology at Mayo Clinic and a principal investigator on the PATHFINDER 2 study. "MCED tests are not a replacement for existing screening, but they have the potential to complement current approaches by helping detect cancer signals across multiple cancer types, including some for which routine screening is not currently available." Robust Performance Metrics Consistent with Previous Studies The Galleri test detected a cancer signal in 287 participants, and of those, cancer was diagnosed in 173 participants. The likelihood of receiving a cancer diagnosis following a positive test result (positive predictive value or PPV) was 60.3%, consistent with previously reported initial results of PATHFINDER 2 and higher than the first PATHFINDER study. Since PATHFINDER 2 is a prospective clinical trial where the cancer status of participants is unknown at the outset, episode sensitivity – the ability to detect cancer that could be confirmed within 12 months after the blood draw – is evaluated in the study. Galleri demonstrated strong performance, with 69.8% episode sensitivity for the 12 cancers responsible for two-thirds of cancer deaths in the U.S. For all cancers, episode sensitivity was 39.3%. Specificity was 99.6%, translating to a false positive rate of less than 0.4%. "The up to 6.5 fold improvement in screen-detected cancers with Galleri in PATHFINDER 2 study, coupled with the greater than 20% reduction in Stage 4 cancers observed in the NHS-Galleri trial, is really exciting data that help support Galleri's performance in a diverse and representative population," said Nima Nabavizadeh, MD, Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. "As an oncologist, I have seen too many patients diagnosed only after their cancer has spread, when treatment decisions become more difficult. By helping find more cancers earlier, when more treatment options may be available, there is great potential for multi-cancer early detection to transform cancer screening." Galleri Pinpoints Cancer Signal Origin Allowing Efficient Diagnostic Workups A key benefit of the Galleri test is its ability to predict where in the body the cancer signal is coming from. The PATHFINDER 2 study demonstrated that the test correctly identified the Cancer Signal Origin (CSO) 91.3% of the time, leading to efficient diagnostic workups. Diagnostic resolution took a median of 48 days, and only 0.6% of all safety-analyzable participants had an invasive procedure (213/35,335) following a positive MCED test result. A total of 90.5% of invasive procedures were nonsurgical. Screening with the Galleri test had a favorable safety profile, with a low false-positive rate and a low rate of invasive procedures. There were five study-related adverse events reported during diagnostic evaluation, only in those with cancer diagnosis. Anxiety temporarily increased for participants with a positive MCED test and subsequent cancer diagnosis, and returned to baseline by 12 months, as has been observed for other screening tests. One serious adverse event related to the diagnostic work-up was identified after the data lock. Follow-up is ongoing; this and any other findings after data lock will be reported in full in the next interim analysis. About PATHFINDER 2 (NCT05155605) About GRAIL For more information, visit grail.com. About Galleri® For more information, visit galleri.com. *A statistically significant reduction was not observed in combined stage III–IV diagnoses across three screening rounds for the 12 deadly cancers. **Test performance metrics do not represent results of a head-to-head comparative study. Separate studies have different designs, objectives, and participant populations, which limits the ability to draw conclusions about comparative performance. Important Galleri Safety Information Laboratory/Test Information GRAIL Forward Looking Statements These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially and adversely from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those factors and numerous associated risks discussed under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2025. Moreover, we operate in a dynamic and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially and adversely from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. Forward-looking statements relate to the future and, accordingly, are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Although we believe the expectations and projections expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. Our actual results, financial condition and success in our business strategies and operations may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform our prior statements to actual results or revised expectations or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events. [1] Giridhar K, et al. Safety and Performance Results From PATHFINDER 2 (PF2), a Registrational Study of a Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) Test in an Intended-Use Population [presentation]. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting; 2026 May 29-June 2 [2] NORC at the University of Chicago. Percent of cancers detected by screening in the U.S. https://cancerdetection.norc.org/ (2022). [3] Klein EA, Richards D, Cohn A, et al. Clinical validation of a targeted methylation-based multi-cancer early detection test using an independent validation set. Ann Oncol. 2021 Sep;32(9):1167-77. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2021.05.806 [4] Swanton C. NHS-Galleri: Primary Results From a Randomised Controlled Trial to Assess the Clinical Utility of a Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) Test in Population Screening [presentation]. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting; 2026 May 29-June 2. [5] GRAIL, Inc. False positive rate. [Data on file: GR-2025-0256]
SOURCE GRAIL, Inc. | ||
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