NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Chinese firms Shuwen Biotech and Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine today announced a collaboration to develop companion diagnostics.
Under the term of the agreement, Shuwen will develop assays and kits for an unidentified anticancer drug candidate that Hengrui is currently developing. Shuwen will also screen patients with the tests at its diagnostic reference laboratories for upcoming clinical trials, as well as manufacture and market the diagnostic if it receives regulatory approval.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Shuwen’s capabilities in both IVD kits and reference laboratory testing make it an ideal partner in companion diagnostics for our innovative drug development," Lianshan Zhang, Hengrui's president of global R&D, said in a statement.
Last year, Deqing, China-based Shuwen received an exclusive license to commercialize DiagnoCure's Previstage GCC colorectal cancer staging test in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.