Despite increasing evidence that the action of some drugs is influenced by patient genetics, testing for such variants has not been widely adopted as part of standard practice, AAAS meeting attendees heard this weekend.
The molecular diagnostics firm's decline in sales to clinical partners and biothreat customers was the primary cause of its expected decrease in Q4 revenues. It also announced a series of measures aimed at reining in costs in 2009.
A company official said Hong Kong may be the best place to conduct the phase I study since data collected may be used in both US and Chinese regulatory filings.
Without specific guidance from the FDA regarding KRAS testing, drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Amgen are facing lower sales of their colorectal cancer drugs Erbitux and Vectibix, and may need to get creative in how they market their drugs to patients and doctors.
Navigenics’ lower-priced program to incorporate genetic risk data in patients’ annual medical checkup raises questions as to whether personal genomics firms should be broadly marketing their services to physicians.
