Biocartis and Hospital del Mar develop diagnostic colon cancer test

Biocartis is active in molecular diagnostics and develops innovative diagnostic platforms, which allow for efficient disease detection. Biocartis also develops a wide range of clinically relevant tests for various therapeutic areas with a primary focus on cancer diagnosis.

Recently Dr Montagut and her team (Dr Albanell’s department of Medical Oncology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona) showed that colon cancer patients with an S492R-mutation in the EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor) can’t be helped with the colon cancer drug cetuximab. The EGFR mutation makes the tumours resistant to this treatment, whilst they remain sensitive to treatment with panitumumab. These results were published in the leading scientific journal Nature Medicine.

"Our agreement with Biocartis represents a crucial step in translating our relevant scientific findings to benefit the patient,” according to Clara Montagut, associated doctor, Oncology department, Hospital del Mar and researcher at the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute).

The collaboration with Hospital del Mar enables Biocartis to develop a colon cancer test for a fast and accurate detection of the EGFR mutation. "This new biomarker enables us to develop a unique combination of tests for the detection of colon cancer, which can be analysed on our state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic platforms," added Geert Maertens, Chief Scientific Officer at Biocartis. “The detection of this biomarker in colon cancer patients ensures that personalised therapy can be applied faster and more efficiently.”

Biocartis was founded in 2007 by Dr. Rudi Pauwels, Prof. Philippe Renaud (EPFL), and Nader Donzel (Scitec Laboratory Automation). The company is based in Lausanne and Mechelen (Belgium).