NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Labco Quality Diagnostics and Pangaea Biotech today announced a deal to launch a non-invasive blood-based genetic test for monitoring the response of patients to cancer drugs.
The test allows oncologists to predict treatment response to therapies and disease progression and to adjust treatments as required. The deal is the first resulting from a collaboration between Labco and Pangaea in the area of diagnostic oncology and "paves the way for [the] development and commercialization of new diagnostic tests with high added value," the firms said. The collaboration provides Pangaea access to Labco's network of clinical laboratory management and services in Europe andLatin America. In return, Labco has access to an internationally recognized oncology group, they said.
Pangaea CEO Javier Rivela said that about 25 percent of advanced lung cancer patients have insufficient biopsied samples for genetic analysis, highlighting the need to for non-invasive methods for the analysis of genetic material in tumors. Such technologies "will soon become a solution for daily clinical practice," he said in a statement.