Janssen study shows benefits of Cellsearch system

Janssen has announced study data that highlights the basic processes that make its Cellsearch system a useful means of assessing cancer therapy effectiveness.

The trial, which was carried out in China, was designed to assess the utility of circulating tumour cell (CTC) measurements in predicting responses to anti-cancer therapies and evaluating patients across various disease subtypes, including those whose tumours expressed human epidermal growth factor receptor-2.

It was found that enumeration of CTCs using the Cellsearch system in Chinese women with metastatic breast cancer before and after the initiation of standard anti-cancer therapies is a useful predictor of progression-free and overall survival rates.

Cellsearch has been approved in the US, Europe and China, with the latest data reinforcing the findings of corresponding studies carried out in the US.

Dr Robert McCormack, head of technology innovation at Janssen Diagnostics, said: "This agreement in study results obtained more than nine years and almost 7,000 miles apart demonstrates the consistency of Cellsearch performance."

This comes after the firm received recommendations from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for approval of its drugs Simponi and Stelara last month.