NEW YORK – Oncocyte said Thursday that it has agreed to enter a licensing and collaboration agreement with Chronix Biomedical.
Under the agreement, Oncocyte is licensing Chronix's patented technology for blood-based copy number instability testing. In turn, Chronix will use its laboratory network in Germany to accelerate the EU market commercial launch of Oncocyte's DetermaRx.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to Oncocyte, licensing Chronix's technology gives it an opportunity to increase its US test portfolio to address a broader care continuum. Chronix's TheraSure-CNI Monitor clinical assay quantifies the amount of tumor-derived cell-free DNA in a patient's blood. Changes in the quantity of this circulating tumor DNA can serve as a signal of a cancer's response or resistance to treatment.
"By identifying early resistance of a tumor to immune therapy drugs, this technology could provide useful information that may allow physicians to rapidly adjust patients' therapies to optimize the immune system's power to fight cancer," Oncocyte CEO Ron Andrews said in a statement.
Chronix CEO and Chief Medical Officer Ekkehard Schuetz added that its TheraSure-CNI Monitor complements Oncocyte's existing immunotherapy treatment selection test, DetermaIO. "The combination of Oncocyte's DetermaIO as a best-in-class pre-therapeutic predictor of efficacy and Chronix's TheraSure-CNI Monitor as a validated test for individual therapy success provides the most comprehensive solution to an unmet need for cancer patients," he said.
Regarding Chronix serving as an EU commercialization partner for Oncocyte's DetermaRx — a test designed to guide therapeutic decisions for early-stage lung cancer patients — the companies highlighted its well-established laboratory in Germany, commercial footprint in the EU, and relationships with the payor market.