Nature of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature of Business

1. Nature of Business

Foundation Medicine, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Foundation Medicine Securities Corporation (collectively, the “Company”), is a molecular information company focused on fundamentally changing the way in which patients with cancer are evaluated and treated. The Company believes an information-based approach to making clinical treatment decisions based on comprehensive genomic profiling will become a standard of care for patients with cancer. The Company derives revenue from selling products that are enabled by its molecular information platform to physicians and biopharmaceutical companies.

The Company’s flagship clinical molecular information products, FoundationOne for solid tumors and FoundationOne Heme for blood-based cancers, or hematologic malignancies, including leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and advanced sarcomas, are, to its knowledge, the only widely available comprehensive genomic profiles designed for use in the routine care of patients with cancer. To accelerate its commercial growth and enhance its competitive advantage, the Company is continuing to develop and commercialize new molecular information products for physicians and biopharmaceutical companies, strengthen its commercial organization, introduce new marketing, education and provider engagement efforts, grow its molecular information knowledgebase, called FoundationCORE, aggressively pursue reimbursement from regional and national third-party payors, publish scientific and medical advances, and foster relationships throughout the oncology community. Examples of new products include GeneKit, a cloud-based genomics solutions portal for pathologists and FoundationACT, a blood-based (liquid biopsy) assay to measure circulating tumor DNA (“ctDNA”). The Company launched FoundationACT for research use to its biopharmaceutical partners in December 2015 and anticipates a commercial launch of this test to ordering physicians in March 2016.

The Company believes that its existing cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at December 31, 2015 will be sufficient to allow the Company to fund its current operating plan through at least January 1, 2017. As the Company continues to incur losses, its transition to profitability is dependent upon a level of revenues adequate to support the Company’s cost structure. If the Company’s transition to profitability is not consistent with its current operating plan, the Company may have to seek additional capital.