NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Danish firm Dako today said that it has entered into a non-exclusive alliance with clinical trials and biopharmaceutical services firm Quintiles to offer integrated drug-diagnostic development services and companion diagnostic products.
Under the alliance, Dako will develop cancer diagnostic tests, which Quintiles will perform as part of the clinical validation. Both firms will continue to work independently with biopharmaceutical companies and service providers in the industry.
They also said that their first customer of the partnership is AstraZeneca to support development of one of its lead oncology compounds.
Dako specializes in tissue-based diagnostics tests, while Research Triangle Park, NC-based Quintiles develops biomarker tests that analyze genes and proteins that affect cancer cell growth and mutation. It performs these assays at labs in the United States, Scotland, and China.
"By pairing our core competencies in translational medicine, biomarker discovery and managing clinical trials with Dako's expertise in companion diagnostics, we can help physician investigators select the right patients for the right clinical trials, thereby accelerating the development of personalized oncology therapies for our customers in the new health landscape," Thomas Wollman, SVP of Quintiles Global Central Laboratories, said in a statement.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.