NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Insight Genetics and Kindstar Globalgene Technology announced Thursday evening a licensing deal for the Insight ALK Screen lung cancer test.
Under the terms, Insight ALK Screen will be added to Kindstar's menu of tests directed at cancer diagnosis and care offered in China and surrounding areas. Kindstar anticipates offering Insight ALK Screen in China, Hong Kong, and Macau starting next month.
Kindstar provides esoteric diagnostic services through its laboratories in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan to help physicians develop treatment plans for patients with hematologic malignancies, solid tumors, and genetic diseases.
"Adding Insight ALK Screen to our menu of tests is just the beginning of what we see as a broader strategic relationship with Insight Genetics," Kindstar CEO Shiang Huang said in a statement. "With Insight ALK Screen, we can offer clinicians more detailed information on their patients' particular forms of cancer so they can determine the most effective treatment course. Working with Insight Genetics over the long term, we see great opportunity to collaborate on the creation of additional tests that will help us spread the benefit of personalized cancer care to more people in China and surrounding regions."
Insight ALK Screen uses real-time PCR to detect fusions, overexpressions, and other rearrangements of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene on the 2p23 chromosome. ALK fusions and mutations are associated with about 5 percent to 10 percent of lung cancers, and knowing whether a patient is ALK fusion-positive can help physicians decide whether the patient is a candidate for an ALK inhibitor, Insight said.
Based in Nashville, Tenn., Insight earlier this week forged a licensing deal with GE Healthcare's Clarient Diagnostic Services for IP covering the ALK biomarker.
ALK also may play a role in other cancers, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer, Insight added, and more than 1.3 million new cancer diagnoses worldwide each year may be linked to ALK mutations and fusions.