Ipsogen has announced the signature of a license agreement with Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium for the worldwide and exclusive rights on the Genomic Grade
The Genomic Grade is a genomic index invented by Christos Sotiriou and Martine Piccart, from the Bordet Institute, Brussels and Mauro Delorenzi from the Swiss Institute for Cancer Research (Isrec), Lausanne, two leading European cancer research institutes.
In their seminal paper published in 2006 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Sotiriou and colleagues showed that the grade, as measured today and since 1890 by histological examination of tumor sections under a microscope, could not describe the proliferation ability of 30 to 60 % of tumours.
By contrast, the Genomic Grade could capture proliferation in most tumours and showed superior prognostic and classification value over conventional grading methods.
These findings have been validated in more than 1100 patients, including a second study published last year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The Genomic Grade represents the common core feature of the main breast cancer prognostic genomic signatures published worldwide, as shown by a meta-analysis presented by Piccart at the St Gallen Breast Cancer conference in March 2007.
Importantly, the Genomic Grade can be measured by both DNA microarray and multiplex PCR technologies, as presented at the 2007 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
"The genomic field was quite a chaos where each actor tries to sell its own prognostic factor in breast cancer.
"But all these prognostic factors overlap and the common factor is the grade, as pathologists know.
"We are very grateful to the ULB team for making this point clear, and for giving Ipsogen the opportunity to offer to pathologists a precise and consensual way to grade tumors, with the Genomic Grade.
"Ipsogen will integrate the Genomic Grade as the cornerstone of its offer of breast cancer profiling tests that will be launched in 2008, says Vincent Fert, president and CEO of the company.
"Ipsogen's vision is to translate the genomic profile of each tumor into reliable, intelligible and decisive information for pathologists, oncologists and patients.
"The Genomic Grade perfectly exemplifies this vision: it is reliable, meaningful, and immediately useful to improve treatment decisions in about 50 % of breast cancer patients.
"This licensing agreement shows that world-leading researchers and institutions consider Ipsogen as the best partner for realizing this vision", added Jean-Marc Le Doussal, director of breast cancer programme at Ipsogen.
