QIAGEN gains rights to biomarkers linked to cancer treatments

Under an agreement with two U.S. biotech companies, QIAGEN gained exclusive rights to biomarkers linked to the treatment of lung, brain and other cancers, corporate officials announced Tuesday.

The German biotech firm, , entered into a partnership and licensing agreement with Insight Genetics, Inc. of Nashville, Tenn., for a genetic test covering the ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) biomarker, a promising target for a novel class of lung cancer drugs, officials said in a press release.

Mutations of ALK are implicated in certain forms of lung cancer and other cancers. Though several anticancer compounds known as ALK inhibitors are in clinical trials, the FDA has approved one ALK inhibitor, the press release states.

Through a separate agreement between its subsidiary Ipsogen and Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., of Baltimore, QIAGEN has also acquired worldwide exclusive rights to testing for mutations of the IDH1 and IDH2 genes, which are believed to play a role in brain cancers, acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and certain other malignancies, officials announced.

In 2008, scientists reported the discovery of mutations in IDH1/IDH2 in connection with brain cancers and subsequent studies have implicated IDH1/IDH2 mutations in AML and other cancers. Assays that detect and measure the biomarker could prove valuable for research into these diseases, differential diagnosis, and development of companion diagnostics, the company said in the press release.