![](https://www.worldpharmatoday.com/images/nBanners/Docuvera-728x90.jpeg")
Myriad Genetics, Inc. , a leader in molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine, announced that AstraZeneca will use the Company’s myChoice® HRD Plus in an exploratory analysis to identify women with advanced ovarian cancer who may benefit from maintenance treatment with Lynparza and Avastin.
Financial terms were not disclosed.Under the agreement, Myriad will use its myChoice HRD Plus test to evaluate patients enrolled in an ongoing Phase III trial. In this collaboration, the companies will use the myChoice HRD Plus test to identify cases with homologous recombination deficiencies (HRD).
“As the pioneer in companion diagnostics for PARP inhibitors, we are excited to continue our collaboration with AstraZeneca and to apply innovative new technologies like myChoice HRD Plus to increase the number of patients who may benefit from Lynparza,” said Jerry Lanchbury, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Myriad Genetics. “myChoice HRD Plus is the most comprehensive test for identifying defects in DNA repair pathways. We are optimistic that myChoice HRD Plus will identify more women with ovarian cancer who could benefit from therapy with Lynparza than previous tests that only identify germline BRCA1/2 mutations.”
The ongoing collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop a novel companion diagnostic test to identify candidates for treatment with olaparib began in 2007. In Dec. 2014, Myriad received FDA approval for BRACAnalysis CDx to help identify patients with advanced ovarian cancer who are eligible for fourth-line treatment with olaparib. BRACAnalysis CDx is Myriad’s first FDA-approved companion diagnostic and was the first-ever laboratory developed test approved by the FDA.
About Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer has the lowest survival rate of all female cancers. Ovarian cancer is diagnosed annually in nearly a quarter of a million women globally, and is responsible for 140,000 deaths each year. Statistics show that just 45 percent of women with ovarian cancer are likely to survive for five years. The majority of patients are only identified in the advanced stages when the disease becomes more difficult to treat.
About myChoice® HRD Plus
Myriad’s myChoice HRD Plus is the most comprehensive homologous recombination deficiency test to detect when a tumor has lost the ability to repair double-stranded DNA breaks, resulting in increased susceptibility to DNA-damaging drugs such as platinum drugs or PARP inhibitors. The myChoice HRD Plus test is a composite of three proprietary technologies (loss of heterozygosity, telomeric allelic imbalance and large-scale state transitions) and up to 90 other genes and molecular markers including microsatellite instability associated with DNA repair pathways.
Positive myChoice HRD Plus scores, reflective of DNA repair deficiencies, are prevalent in all breast cancer subtypes, ovarian cancer and most other major cancers. It is estimated that 1.4 million people in the United States and Europe who are diagnosed with cancers annually may be candidates for treatment with DNA-damaging agents. Learn more: http://myriadmychoice.com
About Lynparza
Lynparza (olaparib) is an innovative, first-in-class oral poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor that exploits tumor DNA damage response (DDR) pathway deficiencies to preferentially kill cancer cells. Lynparza is the foundation of AstraZeneca’s industry-leading portfolio of compounds targeting DNA damage response (DDR) mechanisms in cancer cells. Lynparza is currently approved in the United States for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer, who are in a complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy and for the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer who have been treated with three or more prior lines of chemotherapy. Patients are selected for therapy based on Myriad’s FDA-approved companion diagnostic. It is also approved by regulatory health authorities in the EU for use as monotherapy for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed BRCA-mutated (germline and/or somatic) high grade serous epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer who are in response (complete or partial) to platinum-based chemotherapy.
In July 2017, AstraZeneca and Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ USA announced a global strategic oncology collaboration to jointly co-develop and co-commercialize Lynparza.
About Myriad Genetics
Myriad Genetics Inc., is a leading personalized medicine company dedicated to being a trusted advisor transforming patient lives worldwide with pioneering molecular diagnostics. Myriad discovers and commercializes molecular diagnostic tests that: determine the risk of developing disease, accurately diagnose disease, assess the risk of disease progression, and guide treatment decisions across six major medical specialties where molecular diagnostics can significantly improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. Myriad is focused on five strategic imperatives: Stabilizing hereditary cancer revenue, growing new product volume, expanding reimbursement coverage for new products, increasing RNA kit revenue internationally and improving profitability with Elevate 2020. For more information on how Myriad is making a difference, please visit the Company’s website: www.myriad.com.
Myriad, the Myriad logo, BART, BRACAnalysis, Colaris, Colaris AP, myPath, myRisk, Myriad myRisk, myRisk Hereditary Cancer, myChoice, myPlan, BRACAnalysis CDx, Tumor BRACAnalysis CDx, myChoice HRD, EndoPredict, Vectra, GeneSight, riskScore and Prolaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and foreign countries. MYGN-F, MYGN-G.
Media Contact:
Ron Rogers
(801) 584-3065
rrogers@myriad.com
Investor Contact:
Scott Gleason
(801) 584-1143
sgleason@myriad.com
