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Angle PLC - Guildford-based liquid biopsy company - Notes National and Kapodistrian University of Athens has published results of a new study undertaken in non-small cell lung cancer. Says study demonstrates the utility of its Parsortix system for minimally invasive, longitudinal monitoring of changes in circulating tumour cell gene expression in NSCLC patients with an EGFR mutation being treated with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, AstraZeneca PLC's Tagrisso.
"Identifying these changes could help guide next-line therapy decisions and provide an important enhancement to monitoring patient response in cancer drug trials," company says.
The Athens study used the Parsortix system to harvest CTCs in blood samples from 30 NSCLC patients on three occasions during the treatment cycle. The study showed that Parsortix, an epitope independent liquid biopsy system, was able to isolate CTCs from patients with a mesenchymal/EMT phenotype, Angle says.
It adds: "Findings support Angle's plan for the growth of a new 'pharma services' business area using the Parsortix system as a biomarker for cancer drug trials allowing longitudinal monitoring of patients."
Founder & Chief Executive Andrew Newland says: "This study, which analysed blood samples taken from patients during the course of treatment, demonstrates the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of NSCLC and the need for serial liquid biopsies to provide vital information on disease progression and drug resistance. The ability of the Parsortix system to capture mesenchymal as well as epithelial cells offers Angle a critical advantage over other liquid biopsy approaches in providing this information in clinical trials."
The Parsortix system has been submitted to the US Food & Drug Administration, seeking the first ever FDA product clearance for a system that harvests cancer cells from a simple blood draw for subsequent analysis.
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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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