Grail is making a move on Washington

Grail, the lavishly funded liquid biopsy startup, just hired one of the drug industry’s most powerful lobbyists to do its work in Washington.

Rodger Currie, who recently made the surprising decision to step down from his perch as PhRMA’s top lobbyist, will soon be Grail’s head of public affairs and “alliance development,” the company said yesterday.

Grail’s business is based on the idea of developing blood tests that can detect cancer in healthy people. The company is yet to prove its technology in large trials — and thus quiet its skeptics — but hiring Currie suggests Grail believes it will eventually need to convince the government that paying for such a test is a good idea.

The company, now on its third CEO in as many years, has raised $1.6 billion in investments and commands a reported $3.2 billion valuation.