Nashville, Tenn.-based molecular testing firm Insight Genetics has received a $1.5 million contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to continue to develop assays to better detect lung cancer. The money is part of a series of small business innovation and research grants the NCI has made to advance research. Insight began working with NCI earlier this year as part of the organization’s clinical assay development program. Lung cancer is the deadliest of cancers in the United States, with the disease killing about 150,000 Americans annually. Another 228,000 are diagnosed with the disease every year. Five-year survival rates are about 15 percent. Insight’s assays focus on how diagnosed non-small-cell lung cancer patients respond to certain treatments. Its primary test, ALK Screen, helps determine if patients will respond to therapies that inhibit anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). The ALK biomarker is associated with a small percentage of small-cell lung cancers. The grant will be used by Insight to expand its panels, focusing on the ROS1, RET, and DEPDC1 biomarkers for patients who have tested negative for the ALK, KRAS, and EGFR mutations. These biomarkers are found in a significantly larger portion of lung cancer patients than ALK, and their prognoses tend to […]
Nashville, Tenn.-based molecular testing firm Insight Genetics has received a $1.5 million contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to continue to develop assays to better detect lung cancer.
The money is part of a series of small business innovation and research grants the NCI has made to advance research. Insight began working with NCI earlier this year as part of the organization’s clinical assay development program.
Lung cancer is the deadliest of cancers in the United States, with the disease killing about 150,000 Americans annually. Another 228,000 are diagnosed with the disease every year. Five-year survival rates are about 15 percent.
Insight’s assays focus on how diagnosed non-small-cell lung cancer patients respond to certain treatments. Its primary test, ALK Screen, helps determine if patients will respond to therapies that inhibit anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). The ALK biomarker is associated with a small percentage of small-cell lung cancers.
The grant will be used by Insight to expand its panels, focusing on the ROS1, RET, and DEPDC1 biomarkers for patients who have tested negative for the ALK, KRAS, and EGFR mutations. These biomarkers are found in a significantly larger portion of lung cancer patients than ALK, and their prognoses tend to be among the grimmest.
“Cancer therapies targeting these genetic markers have shown great promise, but we need effective and robust diagnostics to help identify the patients who can benefit from these treatments,” said David Hout, Insight’s vice president of research and development.
The need for focused treatment is especially crucial for lung cancer patients, who are typically diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease because it is usually asymptomatic in the earlier stages.
Along with focusing on the new panel of assays, Insight will also continue working with the NCI on the development of real-time screenings for ROS1, RET, and DEPDC1. Such tests would have a 24-hour turnaround time, compared to the three to seven days to perform a fluorescence in situ hybridization detection assay.
Takeaway: Public-private partnerships between the National Cancer Institute and private laboratories are being used to develop assays to better form treatment plans for lung cancer.
