Guardant Health Expands Strategic Collaboration With Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to Help Accelerate Development of Precision Oncology Therapeutics

Agreement will leverage GuardantINFORM real-world evidence platform to advance development efforts for core cancer indications

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Guardant Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GH), a leading precision oncology company, today announced an expanded collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operating its biopharmaceuticals business in the U.S. and Canada as EMD Serono, to further leverage the GuardantINFORM real-world evidence (RWE) platform to help accelerate development efforts for Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany‘s precision oncology pipeline. The expanded strategic collaboration will focus on therapy development for core cancer indications with significant unmet need.

“Expanding our collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, represents a great opportunity to help accelerate the development of their pipeline of potentially transformative cancer medicines,” said Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health chairman and co-CEO. “We are excited to see how further leveraging the GuardantINFORM real-world evidence platform can help them bring much-needed cancer therapies to patients more quickly.”

Under the expanded collaboration, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will work closely with data scientists at Guardant Health on a variety of therapy development initiatives that utilize the genomics and clinical information accessible through the GuardantINFORM platform.

About GuardantINFORM

The GuardantINFORM clinical-genomic platform is intended to help accelerate research and development of the next generation of cancer therapeutics by offering biopharma partners an in-silico platform that combines de-identified longitudinal clinical information and genomic data collected from the Guardant360 liquid biopsy test. With data from more than 225,000 patients diagnosed with locally advanced and metastatic cancers, this robust dataset offers real-world insights into anti-cancer therapy use in the clinic, tumor evolution, and treatment resistance throughout each patient’s treatment journey for many advanced solid tumor cancers, including non-small cell lung, breast, colon, and prostate.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health is a leading precision oncology company focused on helping conquer cancer globally through use of its proprietary tests, vast data sets and advanced analytics. The Guardant Health oncology platform leverages capabilities to drive commercial adoption, improve patient clinical outcomes and lower healthcare costs across all stages of the cancer care continuum. Guardant Health has commercially launched Guardant360®, Guardant360 CDx, Guardant360 TissueNext™, Guardant360 Response™, and GuardantOMNI® tests for advanced stage cancer patients, and Guardant Reveal™ for early-stage cancer patients. The Guardant Health screening portfolio, including the Shield™ test, aims to address the needs of individuals eligible for cancer screening. For more information, visit guardanthealth.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including statements regarding the potential utilities, values, benefits and advantages of Guardant Health’s liquid biopsy tests or assays, which involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors. These and additional risks and uncertainties that could affect Guardant Health’s financial and operating results and cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release include those discussed under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation” and elsewhere in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and in its other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Guardant Health as of the date hereof, and Guardant Health disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements provided to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Guardant Health’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.