Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

ABT, GSK Ink Cancer-Biomarker Collaboration

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1322387720090713

›Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:54pm EDT
By Debra Sherman

DES PLAINES, Ill., July 13 (Reuters) - Abbott Molecular, the fast-growing unit of Abbott Laboratories (ABT) that makes genomic and other medical tests, said on Monday it entered into an agreement with British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to develop a test to screen for lung cancer.

The company said the test will focus on an antigen called MAGE-A3 and will screen for non-small lung cancer tumors.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In an interview, Abbott Molecular President Stafford O'Kelly said the company will be announcing a similar collaboration with another pharmaceutical company within 30 days.

The diagnostic molecular test Abbott Molecular is developing with Glaxo will be based on its so-called PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, technology. It is intended to screen non-small cell lung cancer tumors for expression of the MAGE-A3 antigen.

"We've been talking about personalized medicine for 15, 20 years. This is just the beginning," O'Kelly said.

Currently, there are no nucleic acid-based tests approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in identifying patients who may derive treatment benefits from targeted NSCLC therapies.

Des Plaines, Illinois-based Abbott Molecular, whose sales grew 25 percent year over year to almost $270 million in 2008 [this is about 1% of ABT’s total sales], makes genomic tests for chromosome changes associated with congenital disorders and cancer.

It also makes instruments and reagents, a chemical agent for use in chemical reactions, used to conduct sophisticated analysis of patient DNA and RNA, a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units.‹