The Institut Curie in Paris is teaming up with Agendia to examine the feasibility of cancer centers rather processing the genetic tests that the company developed to predict breast cancer outcomes.
At the moment the processing is done at Agendia’s headquarters in Amsterdam.
The Curie-Agendia project focuses on a kit the company developed. The idea behind it is to allow healthcare facilities to process MammaPrint and BluePrint test results rather than sending the results to Amsterdam.
Agendia plans to start marketing the kits in Europe next year.
The MammaPrint test looks at gene activity in early-stage breast cancer patients. It uses the findings to predict whether patients are at low or high risk of having their cancer return or spread to other parts of the body in the next five years.
Agendia said the BluePrint test classifies the disease into one of four subtypes. The tests’ combined results can help doctors predict the outcome of early-stage breast cancer.
The project will compare how well the Curie Institute can process the next-generation sequencing tests with how well Agendia’s central lab does it. The findings will give Agendia an idea of whether it’s feasible for healthcare facilities to process the tests.
“By adding a decentralized solution to Agendia’s portfolio we can offer prestigious European cancer centers, like Institut Curie, the opportunity” to run and process the MammaPrint and BluePrint tests, Dr. Marjolaine Baldo, an Agendia vice president, said in a press release.
The kits will allow such centers to use the next-generation sequencing instruments “they already have in place,” Baldo said. “This benefits patients by bringing these valuable tests closer to them, expanding access to the benefits of personalized breast cancer treatment approaches.”
“The Institut Curie MC21 strategic plan has identified innovation around breast cancer as a major axis of medical-scientific research,” director of the institute’s cancer arm, the Institut Carnot Curie Cancer. “Treatment of these cancers represents a little over 60 percent of the hospital activity of the Institute, and is regularly cited in the list of the best hospitals in France.”
In June of 2017, Agendia extended its partnership with Agilent Technologies on developing an RNA sequencing-based kit version of the MammaPrint and BluePrint tests.
The kits will offer more cancer patients the ability to obtain personalized treatment, Agendia said. They will also means that the tests can be made available to patients worldwide.