Foundation Medicine Licenses Assays To WuXi PharmaTech
By Cyndi Root
Foundation Medicine has licensed assays for targeted cancer treatments to WuXi PharmaTech. The move, announced in a press release, allows WuXi to meet the growing need in China for comprehensive genomic profiling in clinical trials for treatments addressing oncology indications. Michael J. Pellini, M.D., president and CEO of Foundation Medicine, said, "The development and use of targeted therapies and comprehensive diagnostic tests in oncology are expected to grow significantly in China.”
Foundation and WuXi Agreement
Under the terms of the collaboration agreement between Foundation and WuXi, Foundation is licensing its FoundationOne assay, allowing WuXi to perform the laboratory component at WuXi’s Genome Center in Shanghai. The lab is CLIA-certified (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988), a designation signifying that it meets U.S. federal standards for laboratories that process human samples. Foundation will be able to offer China-based products and services to global biopharmaceutical partners. The two companies did not disclose the financial terms.
FoundationOne Assay
FoundationOne is a genomic profiling assay used in clinical research to help investigators identify patients for targeted therapeutics. The diagnostics help identify the molecular growth drivers of certain cancers. The technology expands treatment options by identifying the entire coding sequence of 315 cancer-related genes including single base pair change, insertions, deletions, copy number alterations, and selected fusions. AstraZeneca, Eisai, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Sanofi have utilized Foundation’s technologies.
Chinese Pharmaceutical Market
Dr. Ge Li, chairman and CEO of WuXi, commented, "China is poised to become the second-largest pharmaceutical market within the next few years. WuXi has seen rapidly increasing demand for molecular profiling services from biopharmaceutical companies as they scale up R&D operations and early development activities in the region.”
Bain & Company, an American management consultant, agrees with Dr. Li. It stated in a report that China will become the second-largest pharmaceutical market within the next year. Already, China is third in the world and drug companies cannot afford to underperform there if they wish to achieve global prominence. However, due to the Chinese government’s new policies, profits may not be what big companies are accustomed to. Bain foresees a “doomsday scenario” in China within five to seven years.