Grail shares sink after cancer-screening trial disappointment

(Sharecast News) - Grail's share price halved on Friday in New York after the American biotech group said that a three-year trial of its Galleri cancer-screening test with the NHS failed to meet its primary endpoint. The Menlo Park, California-based company revealed that the trial, which evaluated annual multi-cancer screening with Galleri in the NHS over three years in 142,000 participants aged 50 to 77, did not result in a statistically significant Stage III-IV reduction.

Grail shares opened around 49% lower at $51.81, compared with Thursday's closing price of $101.53, though the stock has soared from around the $20 level seen in the spring of 2025.

Despite the headline trial disappointment, the company noted a "favourable trend" towards fewer Stage III-IV cancers in a pre-specified group of 12 deadly cancers in the intervention arm after the prevalent screening round, the firm said.

What's more, adding Galleri to standard of care screening resulted in a "substantial and clinically meaningful reduction in Stage IV diagnoses" compared to traditional care across the pre-specified group cancers.

"Stage IV diagnoses in these cancers decreased with each year of sequential screening, with a greater than 20% reduction in the second and third rounds. Similar reductions were observed across all cancers," Grail said.

The firm also reported favourable increases in overall cancer detection rates, including Stage I-II cancers that are typically found at later stages.

"The NHS-Galleri trial provides the strongest evidence to date that multi-cancer early detection can shift the stage at which cancers are detected at a population level," said chief executive Bob Ragusa.

The news came alongside Grail's fourth-quarter results which showed a 14% increase in revenues to $43.6m, with US Galleri revenues up 31% at $41.3m. That took full-year revenues to $147.2m, up 17% over 2024, while net losses reduced 80% to $408.4m.