AstraZeneca and Roche collaborate to develop diagnostic test for AZD 9291

AstraZeneca announced it has entered into collaboration with Roche to develop a plasma-based companion diagnostic test to support AZD 9291, AstraZeneca�s investigational compound in clinical development for Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

The companion diagnostic test is designed to identify epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in both tumour tissue and plasma derived from patients with NSCLC, and to optimise the clinical development of AZD 9291 for patients who are resistant to first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). Currently, patients who have been treated with EGFR-TKIs in whom the disease has progressed have to undergo a repeat biopsy to assess whether they have a specific mutation, T790M. Diagnostic tests based on circulating DNA (ctDNA) in plasma samples provide an alternative method of identifying the T790M mutation.