Date: 2013-01-07
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: biomarker for mutations of the HSP110 gene
Company: Qiagen (The Netherlands) Inserm Transfert (France)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: licensing
Action mechanism:
Disease: colorectal cancer
Details: * On January 7, 2013, Qiagen has announced three separate agreements that add new biomarkers to its pipeline of personalized healthcare diagnostics. The third one has been concluded by Qiagen Marseille, Qiagen\'s french subsidiary previously known as Ipsogen. The company has licensed exclusive worldwide rights to a biomarker for mutations of the HSP110 gene, which allows for identification of specific types of colorectal cancer, from InsermTransfert, the technology transfer arm of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) in Paris. Qiagen intends to develop the biomarkers into a diagnostic test for routine use in the diagnostic work-up of colorectal cancer patients.
Diagnosing HSP110 mutations holds promise for enabling doctors to identify so-called microsatellite instability (MSI), which occurs in about 15% of all colorectal cancers. Patients with MSI have a more favorable outcome. On the other hand, about one-third of these patients with MSI have Lynch syndrome, an inherited form of colorectal cancer that is linked to a higher risk of developing a second cancer. The detection of this mutation is expected to help in assessing the MSI phenotype of colorectal cancer. The HSP110 biomarker will complement QIAGEN’s therascreen tests that identify genetic mutations of the KRAS and BRAF genes in colorectal cancer patients.
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