AstraZeneca makes a move into precision medicine
pharmafile | May 13, 2015 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Precision Medicine, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, mhi
AstraZeneca has signalled its intention to ramp up the use of personalised medicine strategies to find new candidate drugs and match patients to treatment – after striking major deals in the growing field.
It is developing a diagnostic test to identify patients who response best to the therapy in a Phase III trial of a new investigational asthma treatment. It is also entering collaboration with the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) in Quebec to search the genomes of up to 80,000 patients for genes linked to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
The company says personalised medicine is “at the centre of its approach to drug discovery and development”, and the collaborations are part of its strategy to seek external partners to develop companion diagnostics and drugs.
It is partnering with rival firm Abbott to develop a diagnostic test to identify people with asthma who will respond to treatment with its investigational biological therapy, tralokinumab.
Abbott will develop and commercialise diagnostic tests to measure the proteins periostin and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), which play a role in severe asthma. The tests will be developed in conjunction with AstraZeneca’s Phase III trial of tralokinumab, a potential treatment for patients with severe, inadequately controlled asthma – which was developed by the company’s biologics research and development arm, MedImmune.
The Phase III trial will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of tralokinumab in reducing the rate of asthma exacerbations and lung function, and improving patient-reported asthma symptoms and quality of life in people who are already having treatment with inhaled corticosteroids plus a long-acting β2-agonist. Other trials will also assess whether serum periostin or DPP4 could identify patients who are most likely to benefit from tralokinumab.
Bing Yao, senior vice president and head of MedImmune’s respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity innovative medicines unit says: “This is an important step in delivering on our ambition to bring innovative options for patients who continue to suffer with severe asthma. We anticipate that physicians will ultimately use these tests to better identify patients likely to benefit most from tralokinumab to bring their condition under control. We are on the cusp of a new era in personalised healthcare, one which will see great improvements for patients treated with respiratory medicines.”
The MHI collaboration means the researchers from its Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre will analyse up to 80,000 DNA samples from AstraZeneca’s biobank, which the company has collected under informed consent from patients who have entered cardiovascular or diabetes clinical trials.
The researchers will identify new genes associated with heart attacks, strokes, diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy. The idea is to use the knowledge gained to help develop new medicines tailored to subsets of patients with particular genetic profiles, and enable a personalised healthcare approach with existing treatments.
Ruth March, vice president of personalised healthcare and biomarkers at AstraZeneca says: “We are taking personalised healthcare beyond its great heritage in oncology to bring targeted medicines to patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes using biomarkers and diagnostic tests.”
Lilian Anekwe
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