The partnership pairs Pillar’s portfolio of oncoReveal® kitted NGS panels with CellCarta’s global laboratory network and biomarker expertise to reduce screening friction, improve turnaround time, reduce failure rates, and support scalable companion diagnostic programs.
CellCarta, a global provider of precision medicine laboratory services for drug development, and Pillar Biosciences, a leader in NGS-based oncology molecular diagnostics, today announced a global multi-year strategic partnership to broaden access to fast, operationally streamlined next-generation sequencing (NGS) tumor profiling for biopharma sponsors and clinical research partners worldwide.
As oncology drug development becomes increasingly biomarker-driven, sponsors are under pressure to enroll faster while managing tighter budgets. At the same time, trial designs continue to fragment into smaller molecular subgroups, increasing screening volume, operational complexity, and the cost of delay. Testing strategies that rely on broad panels by default can add unnecessary time, expense, and friction when studies require a fit-for-purpose set of actionable markers.
This partnership is designed to remove that bottleneck by combining Pillar’s portfolio of oncoReveal NGS-based kitted panels with CellCarta’s global clinical trial testing execution. Together, the companies will help sponsors right-size molecular testing to each study objective, reduce avoidable operational steps, and deliver actionable results on timelines that support enrollment and decision-making.
The collaboration will focus on enabling indication-relevant tumor profiling with reduced hands-on complexity, consistent performance expectations, and faster sample-to-report execution compared to traditional, more operationally burdensome approaches.
The partnership will help address sponsor cost pressure with fit-for-purpose profiling aligned to indication and trial objectives when broad panels are unnecessary and will support increasingly complex, biomarker-driven trial designs where turnaround time and reliability directly impact screen-fail rates and timelines.
“Biomarker-driven oncology trials demand testing strategies that are both operationally efficient and aligned with long-term development goals,” said Robin Grimwood, SVP of Genomics at CellCarta. “Through our partnership with Pillar Biosciences, we combine their streamlined, rapid workflow with our global laboratory execution and deep CDx expertise to support faster enrollment and standardized implementation across regions. Importantly, this collaboration enables us to offer highly targeted, indication-specific panels for prospective testing, with the flexibility to develop custom panels aligned to sponsor programs — providing a consistent foundation for potential companion diagnostic alignment as assets advance.”
“Our kitted NGS panels, based on our proprietary SLIMamp® chemistry, were designed to make high-value tumor profiling more operationally accessible to laboratories across the globe while still delivering actionable insights,” said Dan Harma, Chief Commercial Officer at Pillar Biosciences. “By partnering with CellCarta, we can extend that value through a trusted global laboratory network and help sponsors deploy testing strategies that match today’s realities: increasing trial complexity, tighter timelines, and more cost discipline.”
