AstraZeneca Partners with Roche on Development of a Companion Diagnostic

This article illustrates the dual use of companion diagnostics. First of all, the test can be used to determine whether a patient is a candidate for a particular drug therapy -- compound AZ9291 in this case. The fact that the drug does not yet have a proprietary name is evidence of the very early stage at which the companion diagnostic is being developed. Secondly, the diagnostic test can also be used to identify circulating tumor DNA in the plasma. NSCLC, a confusing term, is the most common type of lung cancer. Unfortunately and as noted above, some 70% of NSCLC patients have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis that is not amenable to surgical resection. The term NSCLC encompasses the following three histologic types of neoplasm (see: Lung cancer - non-small cell):  Adenocarcinomas that are often found in an outer area of the lung. Squamous cell carcinomas that is usually found in the center of the lung next to a bronchus. Large cell carcinomas that can occur in any part of the lung. They tend to grow and spread faster than the other two types.
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Pathologists Authors: Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Laboratory Industry Trends Medical Research Source Type: blogs