(Alliance News) - Angle PLC on Tuesday said there is potential for its Parsortix system to be used in cancer drug trials of MET inhibitors and in the identification of patients likely to respond to such inhibitors.
The Liquid Biopsy Analysis Unit at the Health Research Institute of Santiago, Spain has published results in non small cell lung cancer and head and neck cancer which looked at the possible use of a liquid biopsy-based strategy in assessing MET alterations on circulating tumour cells. Liquid biopsies look for cancer cells in the blood rather than at the tumour site.
Angle explained that: "MET alterations in cancer patients may provide a biomarker to evaluate which patients will benefit from treatment with a new class of drug called MET inhibitors."
Angle noted that liquid biopsies in head and neck cancer patients using its Parsortix system showed a significant association between the presence of MET positive circulating tumour cells and poorer overall survival.
"This research suggests that there is potential for the Parsortix system to be used as part of a biomarker approach in cancer drug trials of MET inhibitors, and then potentially as a companion diagnostic to identify patients likely to respond to the MET inhibitor drugs," said Angle.
Andrew Newland, chief executive of Angle, said: "The analysis of MET status on [circulating tumour cells] using Parsortix is a new and promising area of investigation for cancer treatment. This research further demonstrates Parsortix's applicability and we will now consider how we can add it to our sample-to-answer imaging solutions for use in pharma services cancer drug trials."
Angle's shares ended 1.9% lower at 65.70 pence in London on Tuesday.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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Angle (AGL)