Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer is the cancer with the highest mortality rate worldwide. In a new partnership, the Swiss start-up Scailyte and the single-cell genomics provider Geninus aim to develop a non-invasive and accurate molecular prognostic method to identify NSCLC patients responsive to immune-checkpoint inhibitors. This will incease the response rate and pave the way to new therapies.
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 25% of cancer deaths. A new method which Scailyte and Geninus develop in a collaboration will provide clinicians with tools for an informed therapeutic decision.
To this end, the companies join their unique data generation and analysis expertise: Scailyte uses single-cell technologies and machine learning models to discover biomarkers for diseases in oncology and immunology. Geninus, a Samsung Genome Institute spinoff, brings a variety of cutting-edge genomic analysis technologies and experienced global R&D specialists.
Through the joint venture, Geninus will lead the recruitment of NSCLC patients’ undergoing immune-checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy and the processing of samples at a single-cell precision level, while Scailyte will drive the molecular biomarker discovery studies together with clinical key opinion leaders in the disease area. Following biomarker discovery, Geninus will focus on the prototyping, development and clinical validation of the prognostic assay.
Higher response rate and basis for new therapies
Patients suffering from NSCLC will be stratified based on an ICI response-prediction assay. The clinicians will have tools for an informed therapeutic decision, thereby ensuring a high response rate of patients ultimately selected for ICI. Moreover, new biological and therapeutic approaches could be explored based on molecular markers that define response to ICI. Scailyte also benefits directly from the collaboration: the startup will have the opportunity to establish a global footprint in the biomarker discovery business.
Manfred Claassen, Co-founder of Scailyte, commented: “Together with Geninus, we aim to develop a non-invasive and accurate molecular prognostic method to identify NSCLC patients responsive to immune-checkpoint inhibitors. I am excited to witness how the assay will help oncologists in making informed decisions for ICI prescription, thereby ensuring a high response rate of patients and reducing the health and economic burden attributed to improper treatments.”
(Press release/RAN)
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