NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Agendia today announced a partnership with GeneCast Biotechnology to make its breast cancer tests available in China.
Under the terms of the deal, Beijing-based GeneCast has the exclusive right to market Agendia's MammaPrint and BluePrint tests to Chinese customers. Local physicians will be able to send patient samples to GeneCast's oncology laboratory for testing, the firms said.
Franklin Libenson, senior VP of strategic marketing and marketing development for Amsterdam-based Agendia, said that China is a "significant market with an urgent need" for MammaPrint and BluePrint.
MammaPrint analyzes 70 genes associated with breast cancer recurrence to provide a low or high risk of cancer recurrence, enabling physicians to decide which individuals can forgo chemotherapy. Agendia's BluePrint test interrogates 80 genes and classifies a patient's breast cancer into one of four functional molecular subtypes.
Agendia, which maintains a US office in Irvine, California, has been moving to a decentralized testing model in recent months, and inked a marketing agreement with Singapore-based Angsana Molecular & Diagnostics Laboratory covering multiple Southeast Asian countries in May.