Roche has obtained a co-exclusive license for the biomarker PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) from Qiagen to develop real-time and endpoint PCR diagnostic assays.
John Hopkins University owns the patent for the PI3K biomarker and has previously granted an exclusive license to Qiagen subsidiary DXS, now Qiagen Manchester.
The PI3K pathway is mutated in more cancer patients than any other, playing a significant role in colorectal, gastric, breast and endometrial tumours, among others.
Drugs that inhibit PI3K are a focus of current cancer drug development.
Roche Group member Genentech has several molecules in early development targeting various points along this pathway, in a variety of tumour types.
Multiple scientific papers have shown that PI3K has the potential to be a clinically relevant biomarker for the prediction of individual response to specific cancer therapies.
Roche has an ongoing programme to develop a real-time PCR assay that detects mutations in the PI3K oncogene.
This assay will run on Roche's Cobas 4800 system.
Roche intends to make the PI3K PCR assay available to internal and external pharmaceutical partners for use in clinical drug trials.
