Qiagen has expanded an agreement with AstraZeneca to develop a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based test panels for clinical molecular diagnostic testing in chronic disease investigational drug selection.
Using its QIAstat-Dx platform, Qiagen plans to develop and validate a genotyping assay as a companion diagnostic (CDx) test for AstraZeneca's future genomically targeted medicines, Qiagen said. The announcement highlighted the potential for specialty care providers to perform genotyping during routine clinical examination toward drug selection.
The QIAstat-Dx system is an automated platform that handles single-use cartridges with pre-loaded sample processing and on-board reagents. The system detects and differentiates between multiple biomarkers, according to Qiagen, and delivers results within an hour. The system also provides cycle threshold (Ct) values and amplification curves.
Qiagen and AstraZeneca have had a long-standing relationship, including a collaboration toward CDx and drug selection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 2014. Qiagen also has agreements with Neoron23 and Helix, the company noted.
