Warnex Medical Laboratories and Rosetta Genomics, a developer of MicroRNA-based molecular diagnostics, have signed a distribution agreement in Canada for three currently available diagnostic tests.
Under the terms of the agreement, Warnex will market Rosetta's Mirview tests.
Samples will be sent from Canada to Rosetta's Philadelphia-based CLIA-certified laboratory for analysis.
Mark Busgang, president and chief executive officer of Warnex, said: 'These tests offered by Rosetta Genomics will allow oncologists to accurately trace the origin of the tumour in the body and to better characterise the tissue type, which can lead to a more efficient chemotherapy treatment.' The Mirview tests leverage proprietary MicroRNA technology developed by Rosetta and measure the expression level of specific MicroRNA biomarkers in tumour samples.
The Mirview Mets test can accurately identify the primary tumour site in patients with metastatic cancer, as well in patients whose tumours have not been identified and have, consequently, been labelled as a cancer of unknown primary (CUP).
As metastases need to be treated according to their primary origin, accurate identification of the metastases' primary origins can be critical for determining the appropriate treatment.
Current diagnostic methods to identify the origin of a metastasis include a range of costly, time-consuming and, at times, inefficient tests.
Mirview Mets is claimed to offer physicians a fast and accurate diagnosis of the predicted primary origin.
The Mirview Squamous test, meanwhile, uses a single MicroRNA and differentiates squamous from non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
When administered targeted therapy, whether currently available or under development, patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung have demonstrated varying response patterns ranging from a high incidence of severe or fatal internal bleeding in the lungs to overall poor response to treatment.
Current methods for differentiating squamous from non-squamous NSCLC are not standardised.
They are also difficult to reproduce and have a low accuracy.
Mirview Squamous produces a single score that indicates whether a sample is a squamous or non-squamous NSCLC.
The third test, called Mirview Meso, leverages MicroRNA's high specificity as biomarkers to differentiate mesothelioma - a cancer connected to asbestos exposure - from other carcinomas in the lung.
As mesothelioma patients require specific treatment regimens, accurately diagnosing mesothelioma is critical.
Pathological diagnosis may suffer from significant inter-observer variability and, in the absence of a single specific and reliable marker, mesothelioma can be difficult to identify from other cancers.
Mirview Meso is said to be a highly accurate test that may also assist physicians to rule out mesothelioma in patients diagnosed with adenocarcinoma in the lung who have been exposed to mesothelioma-related substances - primarily asbestos particles and heavy metals.
