QIAGEN expands biomarker content portfolio to support greater use of molecular diagnostics for immuno-oncology therapies

HILDEN, Germany and GERMANTOWN, Md., June 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- QIAGEN (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced it has received a worldwide license from The Johns Hopkins University for biomarkers that have been shown to play key roles in identifying patients who could benefit from novel immune-oncology (I-O) therapies in cancer treatment.

The agreement involves rights to genetic biomarkers to assess microsatellite instability (MSI) and mismatch repair (MMR) in all sample and cell types, and will enable QIAGEN – subject to its exercising certain option rights – to commercialize molecular testing solutions using next-generation sequencing to assess MSI and MMR status. Levels of MSI and MMR, along with tumor mutation burden (TMB), are important in identifying cancer patients who could benefit from certain types of I-O therapies, which offer a novel way to treat cancer by using drugs to target the body's immune system to help fight cancer.

QIAGEN reached this agreement prior to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approving in May 2017 an I-O therapy to treat advanced solid tumors with MSI and MMR deficiencies, marking the first time that the FDA has cleared a cancer drug for use not tied to the site of a tumor. The Johns Hopkins University has been at the forefront of research in linking MMR defects to cancer.

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SOURCE QIAGEN