NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Alliance Global Group and Myriad Genetics GmbH have reached a deal to promote the EndoPredict prognostic test for breast cancer. Myriad Genetics GmbH, the international subsidiary of Myriad Genetics, and Sividon Diagnostics entered into an agreement in January to co-market Sividon's EndoPredict test outside the US.
Eutropics' Cambridge, Mass., laboratory has received CLIA certification, clearing the way for the firm to launch its PraediCare-Dx tests for use in determining how cancer cells respond to chemotherapies that induce apoptosis. PraediCare-Dx tests are being investigated for use in treating acute myeloid leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Clinical validation of a test for AML is being completed and the company anticipates making it available to physicians by December, it said.
Affymetrix named the three recipients of its 2014 Affymetrix Tumor Profiling Grants. The grants support translational cancer research directed at the discovery and validation of biomarkers that address unmet clinical needs in cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. The recipients are Francesco Calazza of the University College Dublin in Ireland, who is researching biomarkers of resistance in cetuximab in metastatic colorectal cancer; Aditi Hazra of Brigham and Women's Hospital, whose focus is on genomic and transcriptomic biomarkers associated with the rapid onset of inflammatory breast cancer; and Neetu Singh of King George's Medical University in India, who is conducting genomic and transcriptomic research into chronic myeloid leukemia in North Indians. They will receive Affymetrix tools to discover and validate at least two different analytes from 30 tumor samples.
Courtagen Life Sciences and Seizure Tracker have reached a deal aimed at better understanding the genetic underpinnings of epilepsy. Seizure Tracker, through its website, allows patients to create reports of their seizures and treatments to share with their physicians. Courtagen will use this information "to further enhance our molecular information pipeline," Courtagen President Brendan McKernan said in a statement. Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
NuGen Technologies announced the NuGen 2014 Genomics Grant Challenge, which will reward a winner up to $10,000 worth of Ovation Target Enrichment System reagents for targeted sequencing research. The San Carlos, Calif.-based firm is accepting non-confidential study proposals through July 31. The winner will be notified on Aug. 28.
In Brief This Week is a Friday column containing news items that our readers may have missed during the week.