Transgenomic to advance pancreatic cancer research with NIH grant

Transgenomic, a global biotechnology company, has won $100,000 small business technology transfer programme (STTR) Phase I grant from National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for pancreatic cancer research.

The project aims at developing sensitive diagnostic assay for the early detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

With a team at University of Nebraska Medical Center, Transgenomic will test the application of its proprietary ICE COLD-PCR technology to the sensitivity detection of key mutations in pancreatic cancer in pancreas, urine and blood.

Upon the successful outcome of the Phase I studies, a Phase II STTR application will be submitted to include more studies of ICE COLD-PCR detection of DNA mutations associated with early and late stage pancreatic cancer in humans.

Transgenomic chief executive officer Craig Tuttle said the ICE COLD-PCR technology is being able to deliver high-sensitivity genetic information to support the treatment of oncology patients, such as those suffering from pancreatic cancer.

“Both the financial support of the NIH and working with prominent cancer research groups, such as Dr. Hollingsworth and his team, will accelerate the development of our high-sensitivity cancer diagnostic assays,” Tuttle added.