Qiagen and Lilly to create companion cancer diagnostic tests

Qiagen has announced a new partnership with Lilly on the creation of companion diagnostic tests for common cancers.

The alliance will see the companies create universal and modular assay panels for the simultaneous analysis of DNA and RNA biomarkers targeting multiple cellular pathways involved in common cancer types.

Development of the tests will be based on Qiagen's multi-modal, multi-analyte Modaplex analysis platform, which can process multiple sample types and biomarkers in a single test. This fourth oncology project with Lilly will further expand Qiagen's personalised healthcare pipeline.

The firm now has more than 20 co-development and co-commercialisation projects underway with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Peer Schatz, chief executive officer of Qiagen, said: "We believe our technology can enhance Lilly's development of innovative therapies for the benefit of cancer patients."

This comes after the firm recently announced that it will be adding content from Biobase, including the HGMD Human Gene Mutation Database, to its portfolio of bioinformatics solutions.