CellCarta and Pillar Biosciences announce multi-year global strategic partnership to expand rapid, decentralized tumor profiling for oncology clinical trials

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.”

About CellCarta

CellCarta is a leading global CRO laboratory to the biopharmaceutical industry. With CAP accreditations and CLIA certifications for specific testing methods and facilities in Canada, USA, Belgium, Australia, and China, CellCarta provides a wide range of biomarker testing services and customized solutions to world-renowned pharmaceutical companies. By integrating analytical platforms in immunology, histopathology, proteomics, and genomics, along with sample management and logistics services, CellCarta supports the entire drug development cycle from discovery to late-stage clinical trials. Visit cellcarta.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and X.

About Pillar Biosciences

Pillar Biosciences is a global provider of next-generation sequencing (NGS) kitted solutions designed to deliver high analytical performance and operational efficiency for cancer testing. Powered by proprietary SLIMamp® and PiVAT® technologies, Pillar enables localized testing to expand access to complex molecular diagnostics worldwide. The company offers a growing portfolio of IVD and RUO NGS kits targeting tumor profiling, biomarker analysis, and molecular research and monitoring applications. Pillar’s solutions are built to provide laboratories and pharmaceutical partners with reliable, reproducible results while improving workflow efficiency across clinical and research settings. For more information visit pillarbiosci.com and connect with us on LinkedIn.