The companies plan to develop a broad NGS panel to analyze all known biomarkers for cancer drugs, including tumor mutation burden and microsatellite instability.
The companies are aiming to develop and establish clinical operation for the assays in Japan, where Hitachi said there is growing demand for such tests.
With multiple independent biomarkers, and potential combinations that may require even more subtyping, diagnostics to guide immunotherapy appears to be getting more complicated.
BMS amended an ongoing Phase III study of Opdivo and Yervoy to evaluate outcomes based on tumor mutational burden using Foundation Medicine's NGS companion diagnostic.
Over the next three years, the company and its partners will assess the OneRNA platform to diagnose bladder cancer, select treatment, and measure response and recurrence.
The company believes it can overcome its challenges, and highlighted strong continued interest from pharma despite a disappointing end to its Merck deal.
The researchers plan to add the MSI detection capabilities to an NGS panel and will use the information to guide cancer patients to precision medicine trials.
