LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Biotechnology company Illumina Inc. (ILMN) has formed collaborative partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop a universal next-generation sequencing or NGS-based oncology test system. The system would be used for clinical studies of targeted cancer therapies with an aim of developing and commercializing a multi-gene panel for therapeutic selection, leading to a more comprehensive tool for precision medicine. AstraZeneca, Janssen Biotech, Inc., and Sanofi (SNYNF.PK, SNY) are the initial strategic partners.
Illumina is working with the strategic partners to develop assays that detect and measure multiple variants simultaneously to support partners' clinical trials, with the goal of securing regulatory agency approvals and test commercialization.
To date 125 known cancer driver genes have been discovered, 71 tumor suppressors and 54 oncogenes, which drive tumor growth through 12 cellular signaling pathways.
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