NEW YORK – Thermo Fisher Scientific said Thursday that it has partnered with the National Cancer Institute for the MyeloMATCH (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice) precision medicine umbrella trial.
Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.
As part of the collaboration, researchers will test myeloid cancer patients’ bone marrow and blood samples for certain genetic biomarkers using Thermo Fisher’s Ion Torrent Genexus next-generation sequencing platform to help accelerate the process of matching patients with appropriate treatments.
More specifically, patient samples will be sequenced in the MyeloMATCH molecular diagnostics laboratory network (MDNet) using the Genexus along with the Oncomine-based NCI Myeloid Assay as part of an investigational device exemption from the US Food and Drug Administration to assign participants to MyeloMATCH treatment studies. NCI provides funding for the MDNet sites, which are the Molecular Characterization Laboratory at Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
"Our partnership with Thermo Fisher allows us to obtain the required genomic profiling rapidly and begin therapies specific for each subtype of the disease," Harry Erba, chair of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) Leukemia Committee and co-chair of the MyeloMATCH Senior Science Council, said in a statement. "Through this personalized approach to treatment, we believe we will increase the number of people who are leukemia survivors."
Sponsored by NCI, MyeloMATCH will be open to more than 2,200 US and Canadian sites within the NCI National Clinical Trials Network. According to Thermo Fisher, MyeloMATCH aims to achieve genomic testing and deliver complete results within a few days to help quickly enroll patients into sub-studies based on their biomarker profile at diagnosis.
By conducting multiple treatment sub-studies specific to genomic types, MyeloMATCH can help fuel the development of promising new therapies, the company noted.