NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Bio-Reference Laboratories today said that it has signed a definitive agreement to collaborate with Massachusetts General Hospital on developing pharmacogenomic tests for cancer.
The collaboration will utilize a solid tumor genotyping and pharmacogenomics testing platform that Mass General developed and has been offering to its patients for a few years, according to Elmwood Park, NJ-based BRL. The genotyping platform will enable the simultaneous assessment of more than 100 cancer mutations in clinical tumor specimens, which should allow for better selection of targeted treatments for each patient.
The partners also said that the collaboration will accelerate research, particularly involving clinical correlations with drug responses, that will be accessible to other entities, including pharmaceutical companies that are expected to cooperate in the development of personalized medicine therapies.
"We feel that comprehensive genotyping of cancers offers a major route to fulfilling the promise of personalized medicine," John Iafrate, director of Molecular Diagnostics at Mass General, said in a statement. "We hope, based on this collaboration, that many more patients will have the chance to benefit from optimal therapy."
Financial and other terms of the alliance were not disclosed.