NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Clinical Genomics said today that it is initiating a therapy monitoring study with investigators at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which will evaluate the ability of the company's Colvera liquid biopsy assay to measure the presence of rectal cancer during and after treatment.
Martin Weiser, Chair of Colorectal Surgery at MSKCC, will lead the trial, which is currently enrolling patients. Researchers will test patients using the Colvera assay before and during chemoradiation therapy, and then after surgical removal.
Initial data is anticipated to be available by the middle of next year.
"Currently, we have no reliable method to indicate whether standard neoadjuvant therapies have shrunk or eradicated a rectal cancer tumor and therefore allow us to delay or avoid invasive surgery. ctDNA assays hold the promise of providing this information, and we look forward to observing how this trial progresses," Weiser said in a statement.
"While Colvera is currently being used by physicians around the country to detect minimal residual disease following surgery and to monitor for recurrent CRC, this trial is the first US-based research effort to use Colvera to monitor clinical response to therapy and to assess the efficacy of that therapy in subsequent follow-up," Clinical Genomics CEO Lawrence LaPointe added.