Bio-Rad Laboratories and Alleghany Health Network (AHN) have partnered to advance clinical evidence for monitoring solid tumour cancers using Bio-Rad’s Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) technology.

The collaboration will use ddPCR technology for molecular residual disease (MRD) monitoring of patients across a range of solid tumour types.

Accounting for approximately 90% of all adult human cancers and half of childhood malignancies, solid tumour cancers can develop in many parts of the body, including the breast, lung, prostate and colon.

Used to provide a critical indication of both remission and potential relapse in patients, MRD testing has been widely adopted for monitoring haematological malignancies and is now being implemented for solid tumour diseases.

As part of the agreement, the collaboration will combine Bio-Rad’s digital PCR technology and expertise in molecular oncology, assay design and development with AHN’s cancer-care expertise, clinical data and patient samples collected via its Cancer Institute’s Moonshot programme, which has collected thousands of samples and data from patients since its launch in 2016.

Both aim to generate clinical evidence to support Bio-Rad’s ddPCR systems, including the QX600 ddPCR system, in routine MRD monitoring of patients with a variety of solid tumour types.

Culmination Bio has announced a partnership with BillionToOne to develop and advance diagnostic tests in oncology that are accessible to all.

Both companies will work together to facilitate the development and validation of robust and impactful oncology diagnostics.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, skin cancer is currently the most common type of cancer in the US, responsible for more than 9,500 new cases every day, followed by lung cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer.

The molecular diagnosis company, BillionToOne, is developing these new diagnostics in an effort to address the challenges associated with accurately profiling cancer to assess the best treatment and monitor responses to determine the effectiveness of the cancer treatment.

As part of the agreement, the data and technology company will use its ‘Data Lake’ and patient recruitment abilities to help BillionToOne validate the clinical performance of two new diagnostic tests.

The tests comprise Northstar Select, an ultra-sensitive, NGS-based liquid biopsy test, and Northstar Response, a tissue-free, NGS-based treatment response test, by comparing blinded assay results to known patient outcomes.

The partnership involves two separate projects to advance the development of these diagnostics for future regulatory submissions.