Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) announced today that it entered into an agreement with Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) Janssen Biotech to co-develop a companion diagnostic (CDx) in oncology.
Under the agreement, Thermo Fisher is set to collaborate with Janssen’s R&D scientists to validate biomarkers for use with Thermo Fisher’s Oncomine DX target test in identifying variant-positive patients for enrollment into clinical trials focused on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The CDx is set to support clinical trial enrollment globally and additional indications in oncology may follow as part of the agreement, according to a news release.
Thermo Fisher’s Oncomine DX target test is a next-generation sequencing assay with 46 cancer-related biomarkers and a workflow designed to include fast turnaround time and the lowest sample requirements on the market for detecting DNA and RNA variants.
“The ability of the Oncomine Dx Target Test to rapidly detect variants of interest from very small quantities of DNA or RNA samples makes this technology ideally suited to support development programs requiring an NGS-based workflow that delivers actionable insights consistently,” Thermo Fisher senior VP & president of life sciences solutions Peter Silvester said in the release. “We are confident that this approach to patient stratification helps expedite drug development initiatives which ultimately are designed to promote better health outcomes through targeted therapies.”
