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Genialis, Debiopharm Extend Cancer Biomarker Collaboration

NEW YORK – Genialis said Tuesday that it has extended a collaboration with Debiopharm to develop a predictive biomarker for a WEE1-targeted therapy.

The companies originally signed the agreement in January of last year to discover DNA damage response (DDR) biomarkers predictive of the clinical benefit of drug candidates in Debiopharm's pipeline.

Financial details of the agreement and its extension were not disclosed.

Genialis, which is headquartered in Boston with offices in Ljubljana, Slovenia, will use its Genialis Supermodel machine-learning platform to identify potential biomarkers from RNA-seq information to stratify patient response groups, identify mechanisms of response and resistance, and suggest combination therapies.

Switzerland's Debiopharm recently expanded an open-label, nonrandomized, multicenter Phase I study of its drug candidate, Debio 0123, as a monotherapy in patients with recurrent or progressive solid tumors. Two of the trial's three expansion arms use biomarkers to select patients with different solid tumors while the third arm treats patients with recurrent serous endometrial carcinoma.

"A persistent challenge in developing DDR therapies is the lack of truly predictive biomarkers to guide patient selection and optimize clinical outcomes," Genialis CEO Rafael Rosengarten said in a statement. "I am confident our work with Debiopharm will move the needle for WEE1 and am excited to explore the rest of the target-rich DDR landscape."

Earlier this month, Genialis initiated a collaboration with Tempus AI to develop RNA-based biomarker algorithms predictive of treatment response across multiple cancer types.

Debiopharm Innovation Fund co-led a $13 million Series A funding round for Genialis in 2023, which Genialis is applying to developing biomarker-based cancer diagnostic models.