Myriad Genetics and SOPHiA GENETICS team up on prostate HRD biomarker
Myriad Genetics and SOPHiA GENETICS have announced a collaboration to advance a prostate cancer-specific genomic instability score, known as PrGIS, as a potential companion diagnostic for precision oncology therapies. AstraZeneca is named as a pharma partner in the arrangement, with the three organisations having co-authored research to be presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026.
PrGIS is a biomarker signature developed by Myriad to assess chromosomal instability linked to homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) in prostate tumours. Myriad's MyChoice CDx test, currently approved as a companion diagnostic in ovarian cancer, will generate the PrGIS score as the platform is extended into prostate cancer as a new indication. HRD testing has become a key stratification tool in oncology, particularly in identifying patients likely to respond to PARP inhibitor therapy.
Decentralised access as the strategic rationale
The collaboration's distinctive structural element is SOPHiA GENETICS' role in distributing PrGIS outside major markets. SOPHiA is adapting its solid tumour Extended Homologous Recombination Solution into a decentralised companion diagnostic, incorporating Myriad's PrGIS algorithm. SOPHiA's cloud-based, technology-agnostic platform already connects more than 1,000 institutions across more than 75 countries, giving the partnership a potential route to markets where centralised laboratory testing is limited.
Jess Lambe, VP and Managing Director of BioPharma Business Development at SOPHiA GENETICS, described the geographic inequality in access to precision medicine as the problem the collaboration aims to address. "Breakthrough therapies developed in major markets often remain inaccessible to patients in the rest of the world," she said. "Together, we're building a new model for companion diagnostic deployment that could help innovative therapies reach the right patients locally."
Lou Welebob, Senior Vice President of Companion Diagnostics at Myriad Genetics, framed the deal as a demonstration of its biopharma services capability, saying PrGIS is designed to support patient stratification in clinical trials and accelerate companion diagnostic development for precision oncology partners.
Market context and competitive landscape
HRD testing in prostate cancer is a rapidly developing field. Regulatory interest has been sharpened by approvals and label expansions for PARP inhibitors such as olaparib and rucaparib in HRR-mutated prostate cancer, and the broader oncology community is working to define which biomarker approaches best predict response. Myriad's existing MyChoice CDx franchise gives it credibility in the HRD space, though the ovarian cancer context differs from prostate in tissue biology and tumour heterogeneity, meaning clinical validation in the prostate setting will be a critical gating step.
Several diagnostics companies and academic consortia are pursuing HRD assays across solid tumour types. The decentralised companion diagnostic model championed by SOPHiA GENETICS is gaining traction as regulators in the EU and selected Asia-Pacific markets show greater openness to locally run molecular testing, reducing logistical dependence on central reference laboratories. Whether regulators in key markets will accept a distributed assay as a companion diagnostic, rather than requiring a single analytically validated laboratory, remains an open question the ESMO data presentation may begin to address.
The collaboration does not disclose financial terms, milestone payments, or a timeline for regulatory submissions. Investors will be focused on the ESMO dataset, expected after the congress embargo lifts, as the first substantive clinical evidence for PrGIS in the prostate cancer setting.