NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Qiagen said yesterday that it has inked a master collaboration for companion diagnostics codevelopment with Array BioPharma, the 15th pharma agreement of this type.
Qiagen issued a statement highlighting the agreement and marking it as a milestone for its portfolio of master collaboration deals, which span multiple projects.
One of the first projects under the master collaboration with Array will focus on the development and commercialization of a companion diagnostic for the MEK inhibitor binimetinib. The investigational drug is being studied in Phase III clinical trials for NRAS-mutant melanoma.
The CDx will use the PCR-based Rotor-Gene Q Mdx, which is part of Qiagen's QIAsymphony suite of solutions. "This collaboration holds the promise to improve outcomes for cancer patients, involving the full range of Qiagen platforms, in particular the GeneReader NGS System that was launched in late 2015," Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz said in a statement.
According to Qiagen, it has numerous ongoing codevelopment arrangements with drug firms, only some of which are publicly announced. Schatz highlighted that five firms have inked deals with Qiagen to use its liquid biopsy sample technologies for blood-based molecular insights.