Gritstone bio Partners with Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) on the ctDNA to Monitor Treatment Response (ctMoniTR) Project

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Aug. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gritstone bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that aims to develop the world’s most potent vaccines, today announced that the company has joined the ctMoniTR Project, a collaborative research initiative providing foundational evidence to inform future use of change in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as an early indicator of long-term clinical benefit from therapeutics in cancer patients. The ctMoniTR Project is led by Friends of Cancer Research (Friends).

“ctDNA represents a highly promising biomarker that could transform the way we develop novel cancer immunotherapies,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Gritstone bio. “As cancer drug development has evolved, the field has seen the immense impact that biomarkers can offer when it comes to identifying effective novel treatments early on, which can make an enormous difference in the lives of patients. We’re pleased to serve as a partner on the ctMoniTR Project, which will help empirically inform the clinical applications where ctDNA exhibits the greatest potential to accelerate novel drug development.”

Through the ctMoniTR Project, Gritstone and other partners contribute data and collaborate with Friends to help develop data-driven evidence of how ctDNA can inform treatment decisions, support drug development, and inform regulatory decision-making. To date, Friends and its partners have collected data from more than 25 studies representing over 3,000 cancer patients, 16 additional treatments, and several cancer types.

“The use of ctDNA as a tool to predict clinical outcomes with novel forms of immunotherapy is accelerating at a rapid pace, and the data emerging from this growing field point to ctDNA potentially serving as a more precise and accurate predictor of outcomes than current radiology-based measures,” added Karin Jooss, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Head of R&D at Gritstone. “Through ctMonitor, we aim to help the field better understand and validate this new, powerful tool. We are thankful to Friends for their leadership of this unique project and hope our collective efforts can help bring new therapies to patients safely and efficiently.”

For more information on the ctMoniTR Project, visit: https://friendsofcancerresearch.org/ctdna/.

About Gritstone bio
Gritstone is working to create the world’s most potent vaccines. We leverage our innovative vectors and payloads to train multiple arms of the immune system to attack critical disease targets and have programs in viral diseases and solid tumors. Independently and with our partners, we are advancing a portfolio of product candidates with the aim of improving patient outcomes and eliminating disease. www.gritstonebio.com

About Friends of Cancer Research 
Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) is working to accelerate policy change, support groundbreaking science, and deliver new therapies to patients quickly and safely. We unite scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and policy makers with shared trust and guide them toward meaningful cooperation. This collaboration among partners from every healthcare sector ultimately drives advances in science, policy, and regulation that speed life-saving treatments to patients. For more information, please visit https://friendsofcancerresearch.org/

Gritstone Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements related to our clinical and regulatory development plans for our product candidates; our expectations regarding the data to be derived in our ongoing and planned clinical trials; the timing of commencement of our future nonclinical studies, clinical trials and research and development programs; our ability to discover, develop and advance product candidates into, and successfully complete, clinical trials; and our plans and strategy regarding maintaining existing and entering into new collaborations and/or partnerships. Such forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause Gritstone’s research and clinical development programs, future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in the drug development process, including Gritstone’s programs’ clinical stage of development, the process of designing and conducting preclinical and clinical trials, the regulatory approval processes, the timing of regulatory filings, the challenges associated with manufacturing drug products, Gritstone’s ability to successfully establish, protect and defend its intellectual property and other matters that could affect the sufficiency of existing cash to fund operations. Gritstone undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of the company in general, see Gritstone’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 9, 2023 and any subsequent current and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gritstone Contacts
Investors:
George E. MacDougall
Gritstone bio, Inc.
ir@gritstone.com

Media:
Dan Budwick
1AB
(973) 271-6085
dan@1abmedia.com