Liquid biopsy firm Angle has signed a licensing agreement with NuProbe to use NuProbe's next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel in its pan-cancer molecular sequencing assay.
The agreement grants the Guildford, U.K.-based Angle the exclusive global use (outside of China) to employ the NGS panel in the analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). The firm uses its proprietary Parsortix system to harvest CTCs from the blood for downstream analysis.
In the first stage of the collaboration, NuProbe will move manufacturing of the NGS panel to a larger facility, while Angle will undertake internal validation of the initial batches.
In a statement, Angle noted that using the NuProbe NGS panel will accelerate the firm's work in commercializing the pan-cancer test. The NGS panel enables highly sensitive and specific detection of over 6,500 DNA mutations in 61 clinically relevant genes; it was found to be the highest performing of all multigene assays that Angle evaluated, the firm said.
Angle has already successfully completed a pilot study using the NGS panel, having presented the results in two posters at the European Association for Cancer Research 2024 Annual Meeting held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from June 10-13.
"We are pleased to sign an agreement with NuProbe which will support our ongoing development of highly sensitive and specific molecular assays using CTCs harvested using the Parsortix system together with ctDNA from a single blood sample," Karen Miller, Angle's chief scientific officer, said.
"Dual analysis of CTCs and ctDNA can provide additional and complementary information which will provide pharma services customers with unparalleled and repeatable insights into a range of cancers, and in the longer-term provide clinicians with the potential for continual optimization of personalized cancer treatment plans," Miller stated.
