Almac partners Merck KGaA and MRC to assess Cetuximab therapy
Samples from COIN trial to be used to assess markers of response to cetuximab
Almac, Merck KGaA and the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) are undertaking a study in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) using samples from the MRC COIN trial. The aim of the study is to assess potential biomarkers of response to cetuximab (Erbitux).
This personalised treatment approach has been recognised by regulatory bodies such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which approved cetuximab in combination with standard chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for mCRC in patients with KRAS wild-type tumours.
Almac will use samples from the COIN trial to carry out quantitative polymerase chain reaction profiling and data analysis to assess other potential biomarkers in combination therapy with cetuximab.
Professor Tim Maughan, director of Wales Cancer Trials Unit, said: ‘The MRC COIN trial is the largest trial of therapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer and tested the addition of cetuximab to an oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regimen. This collaboration will enable us to identify whether biomarkers apart from the Kras status alone further define which patients may benefit most from the addition of cetuximab to chemotherapy.’
Professor Paul Harkin, president of Almac Diagnostics, said: ‘Almac is delighted to once again be involved in such an important study. The use of retrospective analysis from formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples will be one of the keys to successfully delivering better molecular diagnostics, which is paramount in the development of personalised medicine.’
The MRC COIN study is a phase III, multicentre, three arm study in first-line treatment of mCRC. It focuses on examining whether the combination of oxaliplatin and cetuximab with fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy improves patient outcomes.
