Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Oncore Pharma Signs European Marketing Deal for Colorectal Cancer Test

NEW YORK — Oncore Pharma said today that it has partnered with Dutch medical testing firm BodyCheck to commercialize the ColonSentry colorectal cancer test in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in a deal valued at $61.8 million. 

ColonSentry is a blood-based test designed to evaluate the expression of seven genes in order to determine an individual's current risk for colorectal cancer relative to an average risk population. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Oncore acquired the rights to commercialize the test in all countries outside the US and Canada from StageZero Life Sciences — formerly GeneNews — earlier this year.

According to Oncore, BodyCheck will launch the test in the three countries during the first six months of the deal. BodyCheck has also agreed to sell a minimum of 275,000 tests, which will be processed by StageZero at its Virginia-based lab, translating to roughly $61.8 million in revenues to Oncore.

Additional terms were not disclosed.

"This is an important initial start for us in Europe," Oncore President and CEO Martin Verronneau said in a statement. "The signature of this first agreement less than four months after our partnership with StageZero Life Sciences is putting us ahead of schedule in creating sustainable value for our shareholders."

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.