NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) - Genomic Health and Epic Sciences today announced that they have signed an exclusive agreement under which Genomic Health will commercialize Epic Sciences' AR-V7 liquid biopsy test in the United States.
Genomic Health will also make an equity investment in Epic Sciences, but the companies did not disclose details of that investment or further financial terms of the agreement.
Epic's blood-based test targets the V7 variant of the androgen receptor protein (AR-V7) in the nucleus of circulating tumor cells in order to guide treatment decisions for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
The company recently published a validation study in JAMA Oncology, in which collaborators from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center demonstrated that mCRPC patients with AR-V7-positive CTCs as measured by Epic's platform had significantly better clinical outcomes when treated with taxane chemotherapy.
Frederic Pla, chief business and product development officer at Genomic Health, said in a statement that the agreement will contribute to Genomic Health's planned growth in the liquid biopsy space.
The Epic AR-V7 test joins Genomic Health's first liquid biopsy offering, Oncotype SEQ, which it launched last month. Overall, the company has plans to build out a broad menu of blood-based tests within what it calls its Oncotype IQ Genomic Intelligence Platform.
Under the agreement, actual AR-V7 CTC isolation and testing will still be performed by Epic Sciences at its own CLIA lab. Genomic Health will have exclusive distribution rights to market and sell the test in the US beginning in early 2017. Results from the test will be made available to physicians through Genomic Health’s physician portal.