Grail Signs With John Hancock

Last year Illumina bought the cancer-screening company Grail for $6 billion. The deal was heavily criticised because that's a lot of money to spend for a company that does not make a profit yet.

Yesterday Reuters reported good news for the cancer detection test maker. Grail has signed a deal with life insurer John Hancock. They will roll out a preventative scanning test which will detect 50 types of cancers before any symptoms appear. As you can imagine, this is a very good move for a life insurer.

The test costs $949 but John Hancock said they will subsidise the product by 50% to 100% depending on the risk profile of the client. They are the first large life insurer to embrace Grail's Galleri test, let's hope we see more insurers hop on board.