Press Release Biocartis NV: Biocartis and Merck to Collaborate on Improving Patient Access to Personalized Medicine in Middle East and North Africa (MEA) Region
2024年5月6日 - 2:00PM
PRESS RELEASE - 06/05/2024, 07:00 CEST
Biocartis and Merck to Collaborate on
Improving Patient Access to Personalized Medicine in Middle East
and North Africa (MEA) Region
Biocartis (Mechelen, Belgium)
announced an expansion of its collaboration with Merck Serono
Middle East and Merck Saudi Ltd., both affiliates of Merck KGaA
(“Merck”). The collaboration aims to improve patient access to RAS
biomarker testing in the Middle East and North Africa (MEA)
region.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common
cancer worldwide, with an estimated incidence of more than 1.9
million new cases annually. An estimated 904 thousand deaths from
CRC occur worldwide every year, making it the second most common
cause of death from cancer.1 Understanding an individual patient’s
biomarker status is key to support timely treatment decision-making
in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).2 Treatment with
anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody
therapies have shown to improve outcomes in patients with RAS
wild-type mCRC3,4 and have become standard of care for RAS
wild-type mCRC.5
RAS biomarker testing is cumbersome and not readily
available in all parts of the world. The Idylla™ KRAS Mutation Test
and Idylla™ NRAS-BRAF Mutation Test are highly performant6 Tests
that rapidly determine the RAS biomarker status in mCRC tumor
tissue samples. Due to the ease-of-use of the Biocartis Idylla™
Platform, the Tests can be deployed in any user setting and in turn
aid patient access to biomarker testing globally.
Roger Moody, Chief Executive Officer of
Biocartis, commented: “We are thrilled to announce the
expansion of our collaboration with Merck in the Middle East and
North Africa (MEA) region, aimed at advancing healthcare solutions
and ensuring timely and accurate diagnostics for mCRC patients. In
our mission to enable universal access to personalized medicine for
patients around the world, Biocartis is proud to provide Idylla™'s
cutting-edge technology for mCRC testing across countries in the
MEA region. This collaboration underscores our shared dedication to
overcoming the challenges in the healthcare environment of the MEA
region and ensuring that patients receive the right medicine at the
right time.”
Ramsey Morad, SVP & Head MEAR - Middle
East, Africa, Turkey & Russia/CIS at Merck, added: "In
line with our commitment at Merck to enhance patient care in the
MEA region, we are happy to collaborate with Biocartis in
addressing the critical need for improved access to RAS biomarker
testing, particularly in areas where such testing is not readily
available. By leveraging Biocartis' RAS-testing platform, we are
confident this will allow treating oncologists to swiftly determine
biomarker status and facilitate timely treatment decisions for
patients with metastatic colorectal cancer."
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More information:
www.biocartis.com
info@biocartis.com
About Biocartis
With its revolutionary and proprietary Idylla™
Platform, Biocartis aspires to enable personalized medicine for
patients around the world through universal access to molecular
testing, by making molecular testing actionable, convenient, fast
and suitable for any lab. The Idylla™ Platform is a fully automated
sample-to-result, real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) based
system designed to offer in-house access to accurate molecular
information in a minimum amount of time for faster, informed
treatment decisions. Idylla™'s continuously expanding menu of
molecular diagnostic tests addresses key unmet clinical needs, with
a focus in oncology. This is the fastest growing segment of the
molecular diagnostics market worldwide. Today, Biocartis offers
tests supporting melanoma, colorectal, lung, breast, thyroid and
liver cancer. More information: www.biocartis.com. Follow us
on X (Twitter): @Biocartis.
About Merck KGaA
Merck, a leading science and technology company,
operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Around
64,200 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of
people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable
ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and
discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to
enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere.
In 2022, Merck generated sales of € 22.2 billion in 66
countries.
Scientific exploration and responsible
entrepreneurship have been key to Merck’s technological and
scientific advances. This is how Merck has thrived since its
founding in 1668. The founding family remains the majority owner of
the publicly listed company. Merck holds the global rights to the
Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and
Canada, where the business sectors of Merck operate as EMD Serono
in healthcare, Millipore Sigma in life science, and EMD
Electronics.
The Idylla™ Platform is CE-marked in Europe in
compliance with EU IVD Regulation 2017/746, cleared for sale in the
US and registered in many others countries. Idylla™ KRAS and
NRAS-BRAF Mutation Tests are CE-marked in Europe in compliance with
the EU IVD directive 98/79/EC. Biocartis and Idylla™ are registered
trademarks in Europe, the United States and other countries. The
Biocartis and Idylla™ trademark and logo are used trademarks owned
by Biocartis. Please refer to the product labeling for applicable
intended uses for each individual Biocartis product. © May 2024,
Biocartis NV. All rights reserved.
1 Globocan, http://globocan.iarc.fr2 Emiloju OE et
al. Curr Treat Options Oncol (2023) 24: 1739-573 Douillard J-Y, et
al. N Engl J Med (2013) 369: 1023–344 Schwartzberg LS, et al. J
Clin Oncol (2014) 32: 2240-75 Kasi PM, et al. Oncologist (2023) 28:
1034-48 6 Weyn et al. BMC Cancer (2017) 17:139-49