Diagnocure Acquires Rights to Gene-Based Tests for Colorectal Cancer

DiagnoCure (Québec, Canada) has secured exclusive worldwide rights to two high-value molecular tests for colorectal cancer and an option to a CLIA- (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988)-certified U.S. service laboratory to commercialize molecular cancer diagnostics tests.

The two tests for colorectal cancer in-licensed from Targeted Diagnostics & Therapeutics, Inc. (TDT; Philadelphia, PA, USA) are based on the detection of GCC (guanylyl cyclase C), a gene that appears normally in cells lining the intestinal track, but has only been found outside the intestine when colorectal cancer has metastasized.

Initial research conducted by Dr. Scott A. Waldman of Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA, USA) showed GCC to be 95-100% accurate in detecting the spread or recurrence of colon cancer, in lymph nodes or blood. This led the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide more than US$10 million in funding for two five-year multicenter clinical studies on 2,500 colorectal cancer patients.

Interim results from the NIH-sponsored GCC lymph node study started in 2003 are expected later this year.

"This agreement with TDT significantly strengthens our position in molecular diagnostics for cancer,” John Schafer, president and CEO of DiagnoCure said. "We have just obtained what we believe to be the most promising tests for colorectal cancer. With these tests and our PCA3 biomarker for prostate cancer we now have high-value diagnostic tests for two of the top four most deadly forms of cancer,” Mr. Schafer added.

More than 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year, with a post-surgery recurrence rate close to 50%. About 53,000 Americans die of the disease annually, making it the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths.


Related Links:
DiagnoCure
Targeted Diagnostics & Therapeutics
Thomas Jefferson University