Pillar Biosciences partners with LSI Medience for lung cancer screening

NATICK, Mass., and TOKYO (PRNewswire) - Pillar Biosciences and LSI Medience have joined forces to bolster genomic screening for blood-based lung cancer samples within the LC-SCRUM-Asia initiative in Japan. The partnership was announced following a protocol revision, with testing set to commence in August 2026. The collaboration aims to screen around 2,000 patients over a two-year period.

Pillar Biosciences' oncoReveal® Essential+ assay has been validated at LSI Medience for screening circulating cell-free DNA and RNA samples from lung cancer patients participating in the LC-SCRUM-Asia project. LSI Medience will perform the testing to identify relevant genomic alterations. Daniel Harma, Pillar's Chief Commercial Officer, expressed satisfaction with the assay's validation and the potential to support the project.

Dr. Koichi Goto of LC-SCRUM-Asia highlighted the importance of rapid and reliable genomic testing for identifying patients for biomarker-driven clinical studies and precision therapies. Liquid biopsy testing allows genomic analysis from blood samples when tissue is scarce or minimally invasive sampling is preferred. The LC-SCRUM-Asia project, led by the National Cancer Center Hospital East in Japan, aims to screen for genomic alterations in lung cancer patients and foster the development of biomarker-driven therapies through collaboration among medical institutions, diagnostic labs, pharmaceutical companies, and research partners.