Strata Oncology, a next-generation precision oncology company enabling smarter cancer treatment, today announced that it is the recipient of the “Diagnostics Innovation Of The Year” award in the third annual BioTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by BioTech Breakthrough, a leading independent market intelligence organization that evaluates and recognizes standout life sciences and biotechnology companies, products and, services around the globe.  

The award is in recognition of Strata Select™, a first-of-its-kind pan-solid tumor molecular profiling solution for patients with advanced cancer that provides treatment selection guidance for immunotherapy and beyond, which was launched in April 2023. 

Strata Select features the Immunotherapy Response Score (IRS), a proprietary, pan-solid tumor predictive biomarker for anti-PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy benefit that has been validated in multiple publications. IRS has been shown to have utility beyond standard biomarkers used to guide anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy, including tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC). 

Strata Select also provides comprehensive genomic profiling results, along with supplemental information including quantitative RNA gene express-based results that provide insights that can be informative for other classes of therapy, such as antibody-drug conjugates.

“Identifying patients who will successfully respond to immunotherapy treatment is key to providing the best possible therapy for patients with cancer. Using a single small tissue sample, our integrated platform provides treatment selection guidance across therapeutic modalities,” said Dan Rhodes, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Strata Oncology. “We appreciate BioTech Breakthrough for the recognition of the ‘Diagnostics Innovation of the Year’ award. Our ultimate goal is to make sure patients and their doctors have the tools they need to confidently make critical treatment decisions.”

The mission of the annual BioTech Breakthrough Awards program is to conduct the industry’s most comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the top companies, solutions, and products in the life sciences and biotechnology industry today. This year’s program attracted more than 1,500 nominations from over 12 different countries throughout the world.

“Strata Select empowers physicians to treat patients more likely to respond to immunotherapy. While many patients benefit from immunotherapy, some are not given the opportunity, some have little chance of success, and others receive it in combo with unnecessary chemotherapy,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of BioTech Breakthrough Awards. “New, better biomarkers are required to achieve the goal of getting the best possible therapy to each patient with cancer. Strata Oncology is leading the way to fulfilling this need with Strata Select and IRS.”