By Diagnostics World Staff
April 27, 2018 | Foundation Medicine, Roche, and DIAN Diagnostics announced a three-party collaboration to integrate Foundation Medicine’s comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays into clinical patient care in mainland China.
Under the collaboration: DIAN becomes the exclusive clinical sequencing partner in China for FoundationOne, FoundationACT, and FoundationOneHeme, enabling the delivery of personalized cancer care for patients; and Roche maintains commercial exclusivity for Foundation Medicine’s molecular information products in China, and in cooperation with DIAN continues its current in-county activities to support the broad integration of CGP into clinical care.
Cancer is the leading cause of death among China's population of 1.4 billion. In 2015, there were approximately 4.3 million new cancer cases and more than 2.8 million cancer deaths in China. Given the high volume of new and emerging oncology research, new innovations in diagnostics and the country’s national focus on personalized care, there is a need for molecular information services that enable oncologists to efficiently match patients to cancer therapies based on the molecular blueprint of each individual’s tumor.
“Healthcare is transforming at a rapid pace in China and there is a national urgency to develop strategies that can advance personalized medicine to improve clinical outcomes for patients,” said Haibin Chan, Chairman of DIAN Diagnostics, in a press relese. “The integration of analytically-validated CGP tests into clinical practice is critical to inform patient treatment options, including determining eligibility for many clinical trials. We believe the combination of DIAN’s diagnostics expertise and market leadership, Roche’s commercial expertise, paired with Foundation Medicine’s leadership in molecular information, will assist China in taking a significant step forward toward achieving its national goal of widespread patient access to precision medicine.”
DIAN is one of the leading independent medical laboratories in China, and is one of the first commercial laboratories approved by the National Health Commission of China to receive a next generation sequencing (NGS) pilot license for cancer diagnostics. DIAN’s diagnostic network stretches to more than 30 laboratories, covering almost all of mainland China, processing more than 100,000 clinical samples per day. To advance clinical diagnostics in China, DIAN has also established “precision treatment centers” with medical institutions and hospitals.
“DIAN’s sequencing expertise and its broad healthcare network will enable CGP as a critical component of patient clinical care in China,” stated Melanie Nallicheri, chief business officer and head, biopharma for Foundation Medicine, in a written statement following the announcement. “Accelerating patient access to precision medicine approaches is critical to China’s oncology community and we’re delighted that our participation in this effort supports Foundation Medicine’s presence, differentiation and patient impact globally.”