GSK is conducting a Phase III study for a MAGE-A3-targeting therapeutic for the adjuvant treatment of melanoma. To receive the drug in the study, participants' tumors must be shown to express MAGE-A3 via a molecular test that Abbott is developing.

A Maryland-based interest group for life insurers is lobbying the state legislature not to pass laws restricting the use of genetic information — an effort that underscores the prevailing view of payors that genetic data is no different than other clinical factors in making underwriting decisions.

Although the collaboration is aimed at increasing physician knowledge of genomic testing associated with all HIV drugs, it appears to have stemmed from lower-than-expected sales of Pfizer's CCR5-antagonist Selzentry.

"For the first time, physicians now have a direct molecular measure of a prostate tumor's capacity to divide and grow by examining the mechanics of growth at the molecular level," Myriad said in a statement announcing the launch of Prolaris, a 46-gene prognostic test that quantitatively determines the risk of prostate cancer recurrence in patients who have undergone a prostatectomy.

When Vectibix received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2006, "Amgen already knew the response rate was low," according to an Amgen official. The company began collecting patient tissue samples from mid-2005 to early 2007, knowing it would "need those samples for a biomarker analysis."