Collaboration for development of companion diagnostics announced

Written by Kasumi Crews, Future Science Group

QIAGEN (Limburg, The Netherlands) recently announced that it will work with Eli Lilly (IN, USA) on a project to develop companion diagnostics for the analysis of both DNA and RNA cancer biomarkers.

This collaboration will be the fourth oncology project the two companies will partner on, and will include assays for QIAGEN’s Modaplex platform, which is capable of processing multiple sample types and biomarkers in a single test. The scientists will focus on biomarkers targeting cellular pathways associated with cancer therapies being developed by Lilly.

Peer M Schatz, the Chief Executive Officer of QIAGEN, commented, “We are excited to add a new stage to our successful collaboration with Lilly, this time co-developing a broad panel of molecular assays covering a range of biomarkers with diverse nucleic acid analytes and modalities to guide the use of tailored therapies.”

Richard B Gaynor, the Senior Vice President, Oncology-Clinical Product Development and Medical Affairs, of Lilly, added, “Certain applications in biomarker development for tailoring oncology therapeutics require the combined analysis of DNA and RNA, and this collaboration provides a multi-modal, multi-analyte solution that can process multiple sample types and biomarkers in a single test.”

Source: QIAGEN and Lilly collaborate to co-develop companion diagnostics for simultaneous analysis of DNA and RNA biomarkers in common cancers.