NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Diagnostics development firm Eutropics today announced the signing of a $1.5 million contract with the National Cancer Institute to develop the Praedicare Dx platform for guiding treatment of acute myeloid leukemia patients.
The assay provides a clinically validated biomarker diagnostic to help guide the use of several therapies for various hematologic cancer indications and is currently being tested for use as a companion diagnostic for therapies in development. According to Eutropic's website, the Praedicare technology identifies changes in apoptotic signaling in cancer cells and interrogates the cell's mitochondria to determine the mechanism by which they avoid cell death.
Eutropics will use the NCI contract, which was awarded through the Small Business Innovation Research program, to expand clinical verification studies of established algorithm readouts of Praedicare Dx tests for two AML therapies currently being used, the Cambridge, Mass.-based company said.
The studies will be conducted at Eutropics' CLIA-certified labs in collaboration with researchers from John Hopkins Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Care Center, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Stanford University School of Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.