SAGA Diagnostics is revolutionizing the earlier detection of Molecular Residual Disease (MRD) to help inform personalized treatment
About Us
Never losing sight of our guiding purpose to bring comfort, confidence and control to cancer therapy decision-making.
Our proprietary MRD testing platform helps patients, oncologists, clinical researchers and drug developers to confidently detect residual disease post-curative intent therapy and monitor response to therapy with unprecedented sensitivity, specificity and turn-around time.
SAGA’s accomplished team comprises the industry’s most seasoned liquid biopsy experts, united in a shared promise to patients to detect and intercept molecular residual disease as early as possible, for every patient.
Our Science
Addressing one of the most difficult challenges in cancer diagnostics.
SAGA has developed a unique tumor-informed MRD platform based on a hybrid of NGS and novel digital PCR technology. This innovative MRD approach predicated on tracking patient-specific structural variants (SV) to detect molecular residual disease early and accurately. A first of its kind liquid biopsy test to identify and exclusively use structural variants to create a unique genetic fingerprint of each patient’s tumor.
- In designing our patient-specific digital PCR assays, we leverage low-depth whole genome sequencing (WGS) of tumor tissue from biopsies or surgical resections coupled with informatic solutions optimized for structural variant-calling from FFPE tissues.
- We identify a personalized, patient-specific fingerprint of up to 16 somatic SV from a patient’s tumor sample. We orthogonally validate this fingerprint as specific to a patient’s cancer through digital PCR analyses of blood and tumor DNA.
- Validated dPCR patient-specific fingerprint assays are used for accurate and rapid assessment of a patient’s MRD status from simple blood draws.
SVs are ultra-specific to a given patient, occur early in tumorigenesis, at a high copy number, and are conserved throughout the evolution of disease, even through treatment and metastasis. Used as the foundation of SAGA’s MRD platform, SV biomarkers are ideally suited for continuously monitoring and assessing cancer status compared to existing methods.
For Patients
At SAGA, we recognize that every cancer patient’s journey can be fraught with uncertainty. That’s why our MRD testing platform is designed to give patients the comfort, confidence, and control they deserve.
Our MRD testing platform is based on a genomic fingerprint that is unique to a patient’s tumor sample. Tracking this unique cancer fingerprint in blood enables patients and clinicians to determine whether treatments are working effectively through a simple blood draw. Our test, with an industry-leading turnaround time, can easily be repeated throughout a patient’s care, enabling continuous monitoring of each patient’s cancer and providing clarity and confidence in choosing the best path forward.
For Providers
Cancer patient outcomes are optimized when timely, accurate and actionable molecular insights are used to inform and guide shared patient-provider decision-making. SAGA’s ultra-sensitive MRD test relies on a patient’s one-of-a-kind somatic SV landscape to produce a unique and readily trackable fingerprint of each patient’s cancer. Our approach enables accurate assessment of post-interventional residual disease, early signs of disease recurrence and/or therapeutic response at all stages of disease.
For Biopharma
SAGA is an agile and trusted precision diagnostics partner with proven expertise in research and regulated studies equipped with leading ctDNA-based liquid biopsy solutions for both solid tumor and hematologic malignancies. Our Biopharma testing services deliver exceptional sensitivity, specificity and broad dynamic range for all stages of drug development and commercialization.
We partner with biopharma companies of all sizes to enable efficient, affordable research studies and clinical trial support to accelerate biomarker discovery, trial enrollment, and time to commercialization. With ultra-high sensitivity, exquisite specificity, coupled with a cost-effective process and an industry-leading turnaround time, SAGA’s proprietary MRD testing platform can better stratify patient groups, monitor treatment response, residual disease, and detect disease recurrence early. With broad pan-cancer utility using our proprietary WGS and dPCR methodologies identifying and targeting somatic SVs, SAGA is the preferred partner for oncology therapeutic development programs.
Leadership Team
Roopom Banerjee
Executive Chairman
Brian Dow
Chief Financial Officer
Taryn Cranford, PhD
VP Precision Medicine
Patrick Eimerman, PhD
VP Business Development and Partnering
Brenton Foretich
VP Operations
Christina Garcia
VP Compliance
Karolina Holm, PhD
Sr. Director, Laboratory and Quality Assurance
Karen Howarth, PhD
VP Clinical Development and Scientific Affairs
Board
Join #TeamSAGA
If you are fueled by a passion to push the boundaries in oncology, then you could be just the person we’re looking for. Located in the heart of the life science ecosystems in Research Triangle Park, NC and Lund, Sweden, we’re looking to expand our team of talented and driven individuals.
