DxS to provide AstraZeneca with companion diagnostic
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Personalised medicine firm DxS is to provide its TheraScreen EGFR29 mutation kit to AstraZeneca as a companion diagnostic for the latter’s Iressa (gefitinib) cancer drug. TheraScreen will be used to test for the 29 most common mutations in a patient’s epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene in order to identify their eligibility for treatment with Iressa, which is designed to treat non small cell lung cancer. The CE-marked TheraScreen platform is based on DxS’ real-time PCR technology and also runs a K-RAS mutation test. TheraScreen can detect low levels of mutant genes in a background of wild type genomic DNA and provide results in less than three hours, according to Manchester, UK-based DxS. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.