ROMA (ITALPRESS) – For a few days, IRCCS Gemini Foundation patients have access to an innovative liquid biopsy test directly in the hospital, without the need to send samples to European hubs or overseas, significantly reducing referral times and therefore waiting for crucial results for therapeutic decisions.
During 2026 the platform will also be accessible to other hospitals, IRCCS and territorial networks, through a dedicated service program. The Gemelli can therefore serve the country by supporting oncologic paths, integrating molecular diagnosis based on this technology with standardized procedures, clinical-scientific evaluations and a national organizational model.
“It is a very important milestone for us – says the General Manager of the University Polyclinic Foundation Agostino Gemelli IRCCS Daniele Piacentini – made possible thanks to a virtuous combination of strategic investments, industrial partnerships and philanthropic donations, such as those collected in the last Charity Dinner of the Gemelli. This allowed us to acquire new technologies and train staff to these new expertise. We are really grateful to all those who have chosen to support a project with a high social, scientific and clinical impact like FPG 360′′′.
“This collaboration between public health and private innovation allows wider access to cancer profiling through blood analysis and genomic information – says Helmy Eltoukhy, president and co-CEO of Guardant Health –. Bringing our liquid biopsy technology to one of Europe’s leading cancer centers is a step further in our mission to help clinicians around the world create more personalized treatment plans and improve therapeutic outcomes.”.
“The Technology Transfer – explains Professor Antonio Gasbarrini, Scientific Director of the IRCCCS Gemelli and Ordinary of Internal Medicine of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart – is the acquisition of the ability to carry out procedures, normally carried out in the industrial field. In this case, our genomic laboratory, directed by Dr. Angelo Minucci, had to learn all the steps to carry out a next-generation liquid biopsy test (i.e. the analysis of circulating tumor DNA or ctDNA) exactly as the central industrial laboratory of Palo Alto in Guardant Health, the company with which a year ago we signed an agreement. This means that from now on we can carry out these tests without having to send them to a central laboratory abroad, with a considerable time saving. Until the end of the year our laboratory will only process internal examinations, while during 2026 we will also open to requests from other hospitals. With the prospect of becoming a hub for the entire Centre-South Europe over the next few years, together with a workshop similar to ours, located at the Val d’Hebron/VHIO Hospital in Barcelona and at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, the only centres that have completed this technology transfer acquisition process in the European region.”.
“That of Guardant Health is one of the most precise liquid biopsy tests on the market and this avoids, for example, the ‘double test’, that is, of having to repeat it to confirm the results – explains Professor Giampaolo Tortora, Ordinary of Oncology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Gemelli -. Making it ‘at home’ also allows us to shorten diagnostic times. It is not negligible because that expectation has a huge cost, in terms of patient anxiety, therapeutic opportunities and progression of the disease. Finally, we are proud of the fact that the Guardant has chosen the Gemelli for this Technology Transfer, being one of the largest cancer centers in Europe (we follow almost 65,000 cancer patients a year) and this is an advantage for the possibility of expanding the test.”.
What can be done today with liquid biopsy FPG360 in use at Gemelli. “This test – explains Dr. Camilla Nero, Researcher in Gynaecology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and Head of UOS Open Innovation at the University Polyclinic Foundation Agostino Gemelli IRCCS – is, for the moment, intended for the study of advanced or metastatic solid oncological disease. Our National Health Service currently reimburses three indications: the first concerns the lack of tumor tissue appropriate to carry out genomic analysis; in the absence of tissue on which to perform molecular analysis, which remains the golden standard, liquid biopsy can be used as an alternative. The second indication is the identification of ERS1 mutation in case of progression of breast cancer in course of hormonal therapy; The third is the study of EGFR mutations in lung cancer. In this phase, liquid biopsy, limited to these three indications, is performed to assess the possibility of prescribing target oncological therapies.”.
“Al Gemelli – recalls Professor Andrea Urbani, Ordinary of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and Director of UOC Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Clinic of the Gemelli – scientific activity in the ‘oeche’ sciences (from genomics to proteomics) fuels clinical innovation paths and builds infrastructures that enable emerging technologies in oncology. During the 19th International Congress of the Società Italiana di Proteomica (ItPA), which we recently hosted at our Auditorium, we gave the opening reading to Professor Catherine Alix-Panabières, among the greatest experts of liquid biopsy in the world and co-author of the term itself (compared for the first time in a 2010 review published on Trends in Molecular Medicine) together with Klaus Pantel. Its presence emphasizes the continuity between the pioneering vision of the concept of ‘liquid biopsy’ and its clinical maturity: today, the evolution of these pioneering studies enters concretely into the path of the Gemini, becoming a pillar of molecular diagnostics for Italian cancer patients. Bringing diagnostic innovation is also an important step in the formation of our students who at the Rome campus of the Catholic University are continually exposed to the evolution of the biomedical sector.”.
-Photos print office Policlinico Gemelli-
(ITALPRESS).
