Source BioScience launches testing service for UK cancer patients

Source BioScience has announced that it is to provide a companion diagnostic testing service for sufferers of stomach cancer in the UK.

The science company has agreed to allow clinicians to send samples from metastatic stomach cancer to its laboratories in Nottingham to establish whether patients have HER2 positive tumours.

This will allow doctors to determine which patients will be receptive to the Roche drug Herceptin, with results to be sent back within five working days.

Dr Nick Ash, managing director at Source BioScience, said it is delighted to become the first validated laboratory in the UK to provide a service of this kind.

He added: “By providing better diagnostic information for clinicians, we are able to help ensure that treatment pathways are managed more effectively, positively impacting the clinical outcome and cost effectiveness of therapy.”

Last month, the company agreed a deal with AstraZeneca to provide a similar companion diagnostic testing service for NHS lung cancer patients.