Agendia’s Microarray-based Gene Expression Profile Provides Critical Additional Information for Treatment Decisions for Stage II Colon Cancer Patients
IRVINE, CA and AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, June 1, 2012 – Agendia, an innovative molecular cancer diagnostics company and leader in personalized medicine, today announced the launch of its ColoPrint microarray-based 18-gene expression signature for predicting the risk of distant recurrence for stage II colon cancer patients who have undergone surgery.
ColoPrint provides a definitive relapse risk assessment for 100 percent of all stage II patients and eliminates the gray area of indeterminate results found in 70 percent of patients using clinical and pathologic factors such as T4-stage and Microsatellite Instability (MSI) status. In combination with clinical factors, ColoPrint further individualizes the relapse risk assessment for colon cancer patients. This definitive risk stratification tool improves the identification of patients most likely to benefit from adjuvant therapy.
“ColoPrint’s definitive results (either high or low risk with no in between) will enable doctors to choose treatment plans for colon cancer patients that are customized for each patient’s individual needs,” said David Macdonald, Agendia CEO. “We expect ColoPrint to be well received amongst physicians and patients for a more personalized management of this disease.”
Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in men and women worldwide. As with most cancers, the stage at which colon cancer is diagnosed is a key factor in determining long-term survival outcomes. A key challenge in colon cancer management is determining the risk of relapse for patients with stage II colon cancer and deciding if these patients should receive adjuvant treatment, such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
Surgery alone typically cures 80 percent of stage II colon cancer patients, and identifying which patients will benefit from chemotherapy remains a challenge. Today, approximately 30-50 percent of stage II colon cancer patients receive adjuvant chemotherapy in the U.S. However, due to the fact that the benefit of chemotherapy is small and its use is controversial, the number of patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy varies significantly from physician to physician and hospital to hospital. There are few reliable clinical factors to identify patients who are more likely to benefit from adjuvant treatment, and now ColoPrint provides a definitive risk stratification for every stage II colon cancer patient.
About Agendia
Agendia is a leading molecular diagnostic company that develops and markets genomic-based diagnostic products, which help support physicians with their complex treatment decisions. Agendia’s breast cancer Symphony™ suite was developed using unbiased gene selection, analyzing the complete human genome, ensuring 100% definitive results for cancer patients. Symphony includes MammaPrint, the first and only FDA-cleared IVDMIA breast cancer recurrence assay, as well as BluePrint­­, a molecular subtyping assay, TargetPrint®, an ER/PR/HER2 expression assay, and TheraPrint®, an alternative therapy selection assay. Together, these tests help physicians determine a patient’s individual risk for metastasis, which patients will benefit from chemo, hormonal, or combination therapy, and which patients do not require these treatments and can instead be treated with other less arduous and less costly methods.
In addition to the Symphony suite of tests, Agendia has a rich pipeline of genomic products in development. The company collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, leading cancer centers and academic groups to develop companion diagnostic tests in the area of oncology and is a critical partner in the ISPY-2 and MINDACT trials.
For more information, please visit www.agendia.com.
For further information, please contact:
Post+Beam
Peri Brauth
Tel: +1 646 442 2769
E-mail: brauth@postandbeam.is