Haystack Oncology and Rutgers Cancer Institute Collaborate to use Haystack MRD™ in Clinical Study of Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Haystack Oncology, a Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) company, has entered into a collaboration with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey to use Haystack Oncology’s industry-leading personalized MRD technology (Haystack MRD™) to help evaluate therapeutic response and provide molecular insights for a Rutgers Cancer Institute clinical trial examining early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients undergoing treatment in the adjuvant setting with liposomal doxorubicin and carboplatin. Rutgers Cancer Institute together with RWJBarnabas Health is the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“We’re excited to work with Rutgers Cancer Institute in their efforts to optimize therapeutic strategies for patients with early-stage breast cancer,” said Dan Edelstein, Vice President and General Manager of Haystack Oncology. “With unparalleled sensitivity, Haystack MRD provides a tool for anticipating and evaluating treatment-related benefits to a greater depth than standard clinical and radiographic metrics, making it well-equipped to support clinical studies such as this, which are essential for advancing cancer care.”

“Triple-negative breast cancer is a subtype of breast cancer that is aggressive by nature with a complex biology, therefore, the disease tends to have a worse prognosis,” said Mridula George, MD, associate program director of Breast Medical Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute and principal investigator of the study, which is also open at select RWJBarnabas Health sites across New Jersey. “We are excited to use Haystack’s MRD technology to monitor treatment response in our clinical trial that could help inform future studies and novel approaches that will result in better outcomes for our patients.”