Two Swiss scale-ups team up to fight cancer

ADC Therapeutics, an oncology drug discovery and development company that specializes in the development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), and SOPHiA GENETICS, a leader in Data-Driven Medicine, have entered into a collaboration to identify genomic markers associated with clinical response to ADCT-402 (loncastuximab tesirine). Both companies are based in the Lausanne region.

SOPHiA GENETICS will conduct somatic mutation analysis of more than 4,000 genes in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) samples extracted from blood of DLBCL patients participating in ADC Therapeutics’ Phase II trial. SOPHiA technology will match detected genomic markers with clinical response to ADCT-402. The analytical power of SOPHiA for the detection of cancer mutations is key for this new development phase and illustrates the benefits of adopting Data-Driven Medicine applications for clinical trials. 

“Our collaboration with SOPHiA GENETICS has the potential to uncover genomic mutations that correlate with clinical response to ADCT-402,” stated Patrick van Berkel, Senior Vice President of Research and Development at ADC Therapeutics. “We have observed significant single-agent clinical activity in our pivotal Phase II trial of ADCT-402 in a broad population of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The insights from this collaboration will allow us to better identify and understand the characteristics of patients who respond best to treatment. We look forward to the results of this research enabled by SOPHiA’s unique platform.”

“We are pleased to partner with ADC Therapeutics, a leader in antibody drug conjugate development, to provide advanced biomarker analysis and turn the results into actionable insights that can improve clinical outcomes for patients and pave the way towards a new era in drug development,” said Esteban Czwan, Senior Vice President BioPharma at SOPHiA GENETICS.