Thursday, March 21, 2013

What can companion diagnostics do for clinical trials?

We know companion diagnostics can improve the probability of successful treatment in patients.  But what can  companion diagnostics do in the field of oncology clinical trials  Sarah Ray at Cutting Edge Information looked at a clinical trial conducted by Genentech between March 2009 and April 2010.  After conducting the trial, researchers noticed that:
The treatment — MetMAb — worked by bonding with the protein receptors located on cell surfaces (MET). By bonding with MET, MetMAb prevented MET from bonding with hepatocyte growth factors (HGFs). Because MET was less able to bond with HGF, MetMAb lowered the ability of cancer cells to survive, grow and spread. 
At trial conclusion, managers realized that although the raw data did not prove statistically significant, examining individual patient profiles showed a different story. The 35 patients with high levels of MET who received the experimental treatment fared very well in this study — better than the patients with high MET who did not receive the experimental regiment. By filtering out data from low-MET patients, trial managers were able to show that MetMAb extended patients’ progression-free survivals from 1.5 months to 2.9 months.
This information lead to the development of a companion diagnostic. What are other methods that can be used to develop a companion diagnostic for oncology? Kevin Krenitsky of Foundation Medicine will join us at the Future of Companion Diagnostics to present Use Comprehensive Next-Generation Sequencing to Maximize Clinical Trial Success in Oncology. For more information on this session, download the agenda. If you'd like to join us this May 22-23 in Boston, as a reader of this blog when you register to join us and mention code XP1812BLOG, you'll save 15% off the standard rate!


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