ViroLogic announced today that it had entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca to conduct a cancer biomarker study with application to Iressa, AstraZeneca's selective epidermal growth factor receptor kinase inhibitor. ViroLogic, utilizing its proprietary eTag assays will test tumor samples from lung cancer patients treated with Iressa to evaluate the utility of these assays in targeting patients who would most likely benefit from Iressa.
Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will provide greater than 100 tumor samples from a Phase IV trial of Iressa in the standard pathology lab format, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) thin sections on glass slides. ViroLogic will test the samples with its eTag assays for specific protein biomarkers that ViroLogic has identified that are indicative of activated signalling pathways in cells, which can drive the accelerated growth of cancer cells. AstraZeneca will make payments to ViroLogic for the project. Other financial details were not disclosed.
In recent months there have been several reports that mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, which codes for the protein targeted by Iressa in cancer cells, as well as other genes, can indicate which patients will respond to the drug. However, it appears that more patients respond to Iressa than have these mutations, and researchers believe that other cellular processes are responsible for this discrepancy. The ViroLogic eTag assays look at cancer cells at a higher level than the gene, focusing on functional proteins, which in many cases are the actual targets for drugs. Being more proximal to the disease process and the drug's modulation of it, assays for these proteins could provide a more accurate prediction of a patient's likely response to a particular drug.