BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx), a leader in cancer genomics, and KingMed Diagnostics, a laboratory services leader in China, announced today that they have entered into a strategic partnership for the PGDx elioTM tissue complete assay. KingMed Diagnostics brings substantial patient reach, encompassing 37 laboratories covering more than 21,000 hospitals and clinics. This partnership provides PGDx and KingMed Diagnostics the opportunity to serve the clinical trial screening needs of pharmaceutical partners in the Asian market through testing sites in mainland China and Hong Kong. In time and as a result of contributing data from these studies, the partners expect to also serve the clinical testing needs of patients and physicians in those geographies upon the appropriate regulatory approvals of the PGDx elioTM assays.
The PGDx elio™ tissue complete panel is a 500+ gene test for somatic alterations that detects single nucleotide variants (SNVs), small insertion/deletions (indels), amplifications, rearrangements, microsatellite instability (MSI) and tumor mutational burden (TMB). The use of TMB and MSI for the identification of cancer patients whose tumors may be likely to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has recently been investigated in clinical trials (TMB) and approved (MSI) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“We are extremely pleased to enter into this partnership with KingMed Diagnostics,” said Doug Ward, Chief Executive Officer at PGDx. “PGDx is developing a portfolio of regulated tissue-based and liquid biopsy products that can provide oncologists and patients with information to help inform critical treatment decisions. KingMed Diagnostics is a leader in the Chinese market with an expansive ability to serve patients. This collaboration embodies the PGDx vision of bringing comprehensive, kitted next-generation sequencing products to laboratories worldwide, creating greater local testing options for cancer patients globally.”
Under the agreement, the companies will work together to establish KingMed Diagnostics as a qualified clinical trial testing site for the PGDx elioTM tissue complete assay, addressing significant demand, with a focus on TMB and other variants of relevance for Immuno-Oncology drug development. Once approved by the appropriate regulatory bodies, this partnership could also enable local access to this new genomic oncology technology for a significant number of patients facing their cancer battle in China.
“Oncological diseases have been rising in recent years and have become a 'Top Killer' that threatens public health. As a medical diagnostic information service provider, KingMed is dedicated to bringing together innovations from across the globe and working with leading clinical research institutions to develop innovative diagnostic technologies to aid in precise diagnosis and treatment,” commented Mr. Liang Yaoming, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at KingMed Diagnostics. "PGDx is a leader in cancer genomics and I believe that by working together, we can accelerate the development of innovative diagnostic technologies in China and bring new hope to cancer patients.”
About Personal Genome Diagnostics
Personal Genome
Diagnostics (PGDx) empowers the fight against cancer by unlocking
actionable information from the genome. We are committed to developing a
portfolio of regulated tissue-based and liquid biopsy genomic products
for laboratories worldwide. PGDx was established by researchers from
Johns Hopkins University who are pioneers in cancer genome sequencing
and liquid biopsy technologies. For additional information, visit PersonalGenome.com.
About KingMed
Guangzhou KingMed Diagnostics Group Co., Ltd. (www.kingmed.com.cn)
was established in 2003 as the leading independent clinical testing
laboratory in China that has been serving over 21,000 medical
institutions as our customers. KingMed Diagnostics develops and
commercializes an extensive medical, pathological and genomic testing
offering with over 2,400 testing items to a wide range of medical and
healthcare institutions with its 37 established testing laboratories
across China. KingMed made a successful IPO at Shanghai Stock Exchange
in 2017.
