GRAIL, a startup for early cancer detection, raises huge amount of funding

I wonder how much $900 million would be in Japanese yen...!

GRAIL, a cancer early detection startup funded by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others, raises $900 million from Dentsu Ventures and others to enter Japan.

GRAIL's technology finds DNA and RNA that has been shed from tumor cells into the bloodstream and uses DNA sequencing (reading DNA sequence information) to determine if cancer is present. The target year for commercialization is 2019, and the cost of one test is expected to be around $500. DNA sequencing itself is not a new concept, but the fact that GRAIL is striving to make it an inexpensive and easy service at a practical level seems to be the reason for its high reputation.

The concept seems to be to use DNA as a sequence element and do your best with machine learning. That in itself is a "sure thing," but since a tremendous amount of information exists in a person's DNA, it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. And, of course, there are so many subjects that it must be very difficult to find a solution that leads to early detection. It is like visualizing something that is not visible.

I don't know if it's really worth $900 million, but it's a dream come true, and hopefully the dawn of an era where IT saves lives.