German molecular diagnostics company Qiagen has said that it is expanding its partnership with British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to include companion diagnostics for chronic diseases.
In 2014, AstraZeneca and Qiagen initiated a partnership to develop a non-invasive diagnostic test to identify non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients eligible for treatment with IRESSA.
The expanded collaboration aims to develop and commercialise companion diagnostics (CDx) for AstraZeneca’s future therapies being developed to address chronic diseases.
Under the terms of the agreement, Qiagen will develop and validate a genotyping assay using its advanced syndromic testing platform, QIAstat-Dx.
The test will help healthcare providers perform genotyping while patients are undergoing routine clinical examination, enabling fast decision-making on eligibility for AstraZeneca’s medicines.
Qiagen molecular diagnostics business area head senior vice president Fernando Beils said: “We are pleased to expand our partnership with AstraZeneca into new disease areas using our QIAstat‑Dx system and to develop together the first companion diagnostic for chronic diseases based on this platform.
“The development of the QIAstat-Dx genotyping assay with AstraZeneca showcases QIAGEN’s expertise in companion diagnostic development and commercialisation, using the most suitable molecular testing platform to meet the unique clinical and commercial needs of patient testing.”
Qiagen designed its QIAstat-Dx system for laboratory use and employs cost-efficient, single-use cartridges with built-in sample processing and on-board reagents.
It leverages multiplex real-time PCR to detect and differentiate between multiple biomarkers and provide results within an hour.
QIAstat-Dx also provides easy‑to‑view cycle threshold (Ct) values and amplification curves, which provide additional insights that are not available with end-point PCR or other techniques.
Qiagen collaborates with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop companion diagnostics (CDx) for their precision medicine.
The molecular diagnostics company has signed collaboration agreements with more than 30 companies worldwide, to develop and commercialise CDx that will advance precision medicine.
