Qiagen and Therawis Diagnostics to develop oncology tests

Qiagen has signed a new licensing and co-development agreement with Therawis Diagnostics to create new predictive tests for oncology.

The collaboration will commence with an initial project to develop and market PITX2 as a marker to predict the effectiveness of anthracycline treatment in triple-negative and other high-risk breast cancer patients.

Anthracycline-based chemotherapy is the current standard of care for high-risk breast cancer cases, but the treatment has a response rate of 50 percent or less, with potential side effects including congestive heart failure or leukaemia.

The PITX2 test will reduce this risk by identifying patients who are most likely to benefit from this type of treatment, with tests showing the biomarker offers unprecedented predictive value.

Kai te Kaat, head of Qiagen's oncology franchise, said: "The test addresses high unmet needs in breast cancer … and will add to our expanding portfolio that covers a range of sample-to-insight solutions to further advance personalised healthcare in this and other cancer indications."

This comes after the company announced new research collaborations with Mirati Therapeutics, Intel and BioTeam last month.