Tempus AI (NASDAQ: TEM) has agreed to acquire cancer genomics company Personalis (NASDAQ: PSNL) in a $1.5 billion enterprise-value deal aimed at owning the fast-growing molecular residual disease (MRD) segment of precision oncology. The transaction, announced on July 20, 2026, will pay Personalis shareholders $16.25 per share, primarily in Tempus stock, with the option to fund up to 50% in cash.
MRD Becomes Tempus's Next Growth Engine
Personalis's flagship NeXT Personal test looks for trace circulating tumor DNA — molecular residual disease — to catch relapses before they show up on a scan. The MRD market is pegged at roughly $20 billion, and NeXT Personal has already secured Medicare coverage in three indications, with test volumes up 33% quarter-over-quarter in Q2 to 10,384 clinical tests on $22.4 million in preliminary revenue.
A Deal Built On A Prior Partnership
The acquisition extends a November 2023 partnership under which Tempus had already invested in Personalis and commercialised NeXT Personal. "MRD is a large and rapidly growing market with the potential to truly transform how cancer patients are monitored," Tempus CEO Eric Lefkofsky said in the announcement. The combined platform will pair Personalis's ultrasensitive MRD assays with Tempus's multimodal data lake and AI stack — a positioning that echoes Caristo's FDA-cleared AI diagnostic and Endorobotics's FDA-cleared surgical platform as the AI-enabled clinical stack matures.
Terms And Timeline
Consideration is capped at a 0.3356 maximum exchange ratio and represents a 28% premium to Personalis's unaffected 30-day VWAP. Closing is expected in late 2026 or early 2027, subject to Personalis shareholder approval and regulatory clearances. Both boards have approved the transaction. The MRD push slots into a heated summer of AI healthcare M&A that has also seen deals like Chai Discovery's $400M Series C valuing AI drug design at $3.8B.
Reporting based on coverage from Tempus AI, Business Wire and Medical Device Network.