Through the partnership, Almac Diagnostics will support molecular profiling of cancer patient samples collected by the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and SPECTA (Screening Patients for Effective Clinical Trial Access).
"The SPECTA Program team require a partner to provide consistent, quality analysis of samples from their clinical trials," Michael Sloan, VP Business Development, Almac Diagnostics, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
"They sought a partner who can provide a robust quality service and support the discovery, development and ultimately commercialization of biomarkers."
Specifically, Almac Diagnostics will analyze patterns of genomic variation within patient samples using the new Illumina Trusight Tumor 170 solid tumor NGS panel.
"This partnership will provide a consistent approach to biomarker discovery and development from these valuable European clinical trial samples," added Sloan.
The partnership is set to last for an "indefinite period of time," Sloan explained, and no further investment is required on Almac's part as the company has "significant" capacity available.
The services will be provided from Almac’s European facility in Craigavon, Northern Ireland.
The SPECTA infrastructure
Vassilis Golfinopoulos, EORTC Medical Director said the agreement with Almac is one of “several key partnership” established to advance the SPECTA infrastructure.
The organization ultimately hopes to simplify patient inclusion in clinical trials of molecularly targeted treatment.
It is also looking to standardize Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Gene Expression Analysis in translational research projects in order to improve reproducibility and comparability of results.