Advancing cancer immunotherapy

Personal Genome Diagnostics expands its tumor mutational burden patent portfolio

DDNews Staff
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BALTIMORE, Md.—Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx) recently announced an agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) for developing, registering and commercializing products and services that include tumor mutation burden (TMB) biomarker status. Under the terms of the licensing agreement, PGDx receives exclusive rights for the diagnostic field of use to MSK’s TMB-related intellectual property discovered by Timothy Chan, Naiyer Rizvi, et al. and featured in their groundbreaking 2015 publication in Science, titled “Mutational landscape determines sensitivity to PD-1 blockade in non–small cell lung cancer.”
 
TMB is a biomarker that measures the number of mutations present in cancer patients’ tumors. A growing body of evidence indicates that tumors with many mutations are more likely to respond to the new immuno-oncology therapies that are revolutionizing cancer treatment.
 
“Researchers affiliated with PGDx were instrumental in uncovering the link between tumor mutation status and response to immuno-oncology therapies, and we were among the first to include biomarkers for tumor mutation status in our tissue and liquid biopsy profiling tests,” said Doug Ward, CEO of Personal Genome Diagnostics. “In 2016, we licensed co-exclusive rights to important intellectual property in this area from Johns Hopkins University and are now pleased to reinforce our IP portfolio by licensing MSK’s complementary patents. We are confident that the combined patent estate adequately protects our extensive investment and development plans for our TMB-enabling tests.”
 
PGDx has expertise in cancer genome analysis ranging from sample preparation and sequencing to data interpretation and analysis. The company specializes in high-throughput next-generation sequencing and proprietary algorithms to identify alterations in complex cancer genomics and has developed novel technologies for non-invasive approaches to cancer. PGDx is also developing and commercializing a portfolio of tissue and liquid biopsy IVD cancer tests that will be clinically validated and regulated, enabling worldwide access to PGDx technology.
 
Under the terms of the licensing agreement, PGDx has acquired exclusive rights to MSK’s TMB patents for all types of genomic testing, including tissue and liquid biopsy tests, laboratory-developed tests, standardized in-vitro diagnostic tests and companion diagnostics. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

DDNews Staff

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