NEW YORK – The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) and GeneCentric Therapeutics said Wednesday that they have entered into a collaborative research partnership aimed at advancing RNA-based molecular signatures for pancreatic cancer disease progression and drug response prediction.
The partners will apply GeneCentric's single patient RNA-based report, including its Pancreatic Cancer Subtype Profiler, PurIST, to PanCAN's extensive collection of patient molecular and outcomes data generated through its scientific and clinical programs.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"The collaboration … is designed to advance our goals of improving treatment responses and survival … accelerating the development of novel therapies, and defining potential curative strategies for people diagnosed with this devastating disease," Lynn Matrisian, PanCAN's chief science officer, said in a statement.
GeneCentric's PurIST is designed to divide patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma into two subtypes: basal (gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel responsive) and classical (FOLFRINOX responsive). The company licensed the method from the University of North Carolina in 2018.
Under the new collaboration, investigators will conduct two studies. The first is a retrospective analysis of patient data from PanCAN's Know Your Tumor Program, analyzing samples taken at diagnosis and at the time of a defined treatment outcome.
A second study will work with PanCAN's Precision PromiseSM clinical trial, assessing molecular signatures of patients at enrollment and in association with treatment responses. The three-year study will utilize GeneCentric's current PDAC profiling methods and also explore pan-cancer tumor and immunogenomic signatures of treatment response.