NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Roche today announced a deal with DalCor Pharmaceuticals to develop a PCR-based companion diagnostic test for a therapeutic being developed by the drug manufacturer for acute coronary syndrome.
Roche's test will be used in a Phase III clinical trial that seeks to validate the clinical efficacy of the drug called dalcetrapib, a CETP inhibitor. Roche said that a recent study by the Montreal Heart Institute indicated that dalcetrapib could potentially reduce morbidity and deaths resulting from cardiovascular events by as much as 39 percent in patients with a specific genetic profile.
Roche's test will be developed to identify a specific genetic variation from patients with recent ACS and aid in determining whether a patient is a candidate for DalCor's drug candidate. Annually, more than 1 million hospital admissions in the US are attributed to ACS, Roche noted.
The test is Roche's first in cardiovascular disease, Paul Brown, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics, said in a statement. "Working with DalCor is a good opportunity for us to enter this market and deliver on our mission of personalized healthcare," he said.