Liquid biopsy just got more crowded

That stealthy liquid biopsy company you read about in STAT last monthis ready to talk about itself.

Thrive Earlier Detection, a Third Rock Ventures-backed company based in Cambridge, disclosed its $110 million series A round this morning. Led by ex-Foundation Medicine president Steve Kafka, Thrive will develop a liquid biopsy test based on technology described in a Science paper from last January.

As STAT’s Kate Sheridan and Matthew Herper report, the test is currently being evaluated in a 10,000-person clinical trial at Geisinger Health Systems. Results from that study could be published as early as 2020.

“Everybody would love it if it works, and in order to know if it works, somebody has to do the right, carefully designed studies,” said David Ledbetter, Geisinger’s chief scientific officer.

Fun fact: Thrive’s series A round is just $10 million more than what Grail got from Illumina when it launched more than three years ago; that company is now worth valued at $3.1 billion, according to Pitchbook data.

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