Schering-Plough in new cancer treatment agreement

Schering-Plough has entered a new non-exclusive agreement with OncoMethylome Sciences for cancer treatments.

Under the agreement, OncoMethylome will receive processing fees for providing Schering-Plough with testing services used for clinical trials. These trials will focus on developing therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers.

OncoMethylome states that the new agreement allows it to provide further MGMT methylation testing to Schering-Plough. It states: “OncoMethylome currently provides this service for a multi-centre clinical trial that is supported by Schering-Plough. The trial evaluates whether patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain tumour, can benefit from a more intensive temozolomide drug treatment regimen.”

It adds that the study is testing MGMT methylation for all the patients’ tumours.

The news follows the announcement that OncoMethylome had achieved a “key milestone” in its collaboration with Schering relating to its new clinical trial facility based in the US. The laboratory will evaluate methylation status of the MGMT gene in DNA extracted from brain tumour cells.

Recently, Schering-Plough stated that a net income of GBP152 million is available to common shareholders for its third-quarter results, which equates to around ten pence per share.

European-approval gained for Suboxone sublingual tablets, used for the substitution treatment of opioid dependence was among the recent developments it promoted.