Roche and Merck collaborate on personalised cancer tests
pharmafile | June 8, 2011 | News story | Research and Development | Merck, Roche, personalised medicine
Roche has signed a deal to develop diagnostic tests for products in Merck’s oncology pipeline, in a bid to make personalised treatments more successful.
No details of any financial arrangements between the manufacturers were given, but the agreement will focus on applying and developing diagnostic assays for use with Merck’s investigational cancer drugs to identify patients suitable for inclusion in trials.
“Effective use of companion diagnostics is an important component of our oncology development strategy focused on targeted therapies,” said Gary Gilliland, senior vice president and head of oncology research at Merck.
“This collaboration provides Merck with access to diverse developmental and commercial diagnostic technologies that will facilitate the identification and monitoring of those patients most likely to respond to our investigational cancer therapies,” he added.
The new collaboration will include array and immunohistochemical technologies. Merck can already access Roche’s developmental microarray-based AmpliChip p53 Test, and this arrangement will now be expanded.
Merck’s oncology pipeline has received a boost this month, with the company confirming at the ASCO cancer conference that it is to submit oral candidate ridaforolimus to European and US regulators later this year following encouraging phase III results.
Meanwhile Paul Brown, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics, spoke of Roche’s “leadership position in personalised healthcare”.
The manufacturer’s vemurafenib was also one of the stars of ASCO, with results demonstrating an increase in overall survival in skin cancer patients.
The drug is being developed alongside a bespoke diagnostic kit – the cobas 4800 BRAF V600 mutation test – to help identity those patients who can benefit from vemurafenib.
Speaking about the Merck collaboration, Brown added: “Roche hopes that, through our joint efforts, we will be able to provide companion diagnostic tests which lead to better solutions for patients worldwide.”
Roche has also just made public an agreement with Clovis Oncology to develop an in vitro PCR (polymerase chain reaction)-based companion diagnostic test.
Its goal is to identify activating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including the EGFR T790M mutation.
Adam Hill
Related Content
Roche receives CE Mark for blood test to help rule out Alzheimer’s
Roche has been granted CE Mark approval for its Elecsys pTau181 test, the first in …
Roche candidate shows early promise for treating haemophilia A
Roche has announced encouraging early results from its phase 1/2 trial of NXT007, an investigational …
Roche advances treatment for Parkinson’s disease
Swiss biopharma, Roche, has announced its decision to proceed with phase 3 trials of prasinezumab, …
