NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Illumina has joined Canada's National Access Project consortium.
Illumina's technology will be used to sequence DNA collected through the project, which is managed by the Personalized Medicine Initiative. Testing for the project is being carried out by Vancouver, British Columbia-based molecular diagnostics firm Contextual Genomics.
The National Access Project's goal is to make genomic testing a standard in cancer care and to enable a personalized medicine approach to treating the disease.
Through the project about 2,000 patients will receive a 90-mutation cancer genomic test for free. The first phase of the project is currently underway and is retrospectively mapping tumors to identify mutations for about 500 patients. Each identified mutation is actionable with current therapies or therapies in Phase III studies.
In the second phase, the project will be expanded to include about 1,500 patients to prospectively evaluate and match specific tumor types with about 40 therapy options.
Funding and technical assistance for the project is being provided by Illumina, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sanofi, and others.