Agilent inks deal to churn out companion diagnostics for Incyte’s hematology, oncology drugs

Agilent inks deal to churn out companion diagnostics for Incyte’s hematology, oncology drugs

With an eye toward better matching its targeted therapeutics to the patients who will benefit most, Incyte has turned to Agilent Technologies to develop companion diagnostics for its drugs.

The duo has signed an agreement, they announced Tuesday, where Agilent will create patient-matching tests for new Incyte therapeutics in the realms of hematology and oncology.

“Leveraging the power of companion diagnostics, we are strategically transforming the treatment paradigm for a broad spectrum of cancers. By working together, Agilent and Incyte hope to expedite the development of innovative precision medicine products, potentially paving the way for enhanced patient health outcomes,” Paul Beresford, VP and general manager of Agilent’s companion diagnostics division, said in the company’s announcement.

Through their development deal, Agilent will add new disease-related biomarkers to its arsenal, allowing it to expand its slate of diagnostic tests that look for signs that a patient may respond particularly well to a specific drug. Incyte, meanwhile, will be able to use the resulting tests in its clinical trials to gain a better understanding of which patients may be best served by a new drug—and those who may experience serious side effects—and to monitor the progress of those who do respond to the treatment.

If the tests are successful, the partners will also work together to get them authorized for use alongside Incyte’s drugs in the U.S. and Europe.

Agilent and Incyte declined to provide the financial terms of their agreement but noted in the announcement that their team-up is focused on what’s expected to become a nearly $14 billion market by the end of the decade.

Agilent already has several Big Pharma companion diagnostics partnerships under its belt, after having developed tests to pair patients with Merck’s Keytruda and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo, among others. It’s also the parent company of Dako, the maker of the first companion diagnostic ever cleared by the FDA, the breast cancer-focused HercepTest.

The Incyte deal comes not long after Agilent moved to shed one piece of its companion diagnostics business.

Last summer, the company said it would stop developing liquid biopsy tests that relied on next-generation sequencing technology to pair cancer patients with appropriate treatments. It had acquired the department only about two years before, when Agilent paid $550 million up front, with another $145 million available in milestone payments, to pick up Resolution Bioscience.

“The market for kitted NGS-based companion diagnostics has not developed as we expected. Furthermore, we don’t see a realistic path to profitability,” Agilent CEO Mike McMullen said during a call with investors last August of the “difficult decision” to shut down the Resolution business.

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