HILDEN, Germany and GERMANTOWN, Md., June
3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- QIAGEN (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt
Prime Standard: QIA) today announced it has received a worldwide
license from The Johns Hopkins
University for biomarkers that have been shown to play key
roles in identifying patients who could benefit from novel
immune-oncology (I-O) therapies in cancer treatment.
The agreement involves rights to genetic biomarkers to assess
microsatellite instability (MSI) and mismatch repair (MMR) in all
sample and cell types, and will enable QIAGEN – subject to its
exercising certain option rights – to commercialize molecular
testing solutions using next-generation sequencing to assess MSI
and MMR status. Levels of MSI and MMR, along with tumor mutation
burden (TMB), are important in identifying cancer patients who
could benefit from certain types of I-O therapies, which offer a
novel way to treat cancer by using drugs to target the body's
immune system to help fight cancer.
QIAGEN reached this agreement prior to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's (FDA) approving in May
2017 an I-O therapy to treat advanced solid tumors with MSI
and MMR deficiencies, marking the first time that the FDA has
cleared a cancer drug for use not tied to the site of a tumor. The
Johns Hopkins University has been at
the forefront of research in linking MMR defects to cancer.
Click here for full press release
https://www.qiagen.com/about-us/press-releases/pressreleaseview?ID={D80B2960-8283-4AC6-B228-16764AD1E101}&lang=en
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qiagen-expands-biomarker-content-portfolio-to-support-greater-use-of-molecular-diagnostics-for-immuno-oncology-therapies-300468295.html
SOURCE QIAGEN