Biocept, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company commercialising and developing liquid biopsies to improve the detection and treatment of cancer, has entered into a collaboration with the University of California, Irvine to evaluate biomarkers detected from blood-based versus invasive tissue biopsies in patients with metastatic cancers.

The collaboration is aimed at validating the use of liquid biopsies to qualify patients for available targeted therapies and to establish a framework for serial monitoring of tumour mutations during cancer treatment to help identify early indicators of resistance to therapy.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommend testing of key biomarkers in patients with lung cancer such as EGFR, ALK and ROS1. Test results from these biomarkers are used to qualify patients for targeted therapies that have demonstrated improved survival, such as Roche's Tarceva for patients with EGFR+ lung cancer and Pfizer's Xalkori for patients with ALK+ lung cancer. Current testing methods rely on tumour tissue from invasive biopsy and/or surgical tissue removal. Both procedures can entail significant patient risk and healthcare expense. Further, tissue biopsies can fail to contain adequate tumour tissue for biomarker analyses. In these instances, it is believed that a blood-based liquid biopsy, such as those offered by Biocept, can provide accurate biomarker information to better guide therapy.

"We expect that our collaboration with the University of California, Irvine will provide further clinical validation for the use of Biocept's liquid biopsy biomarker assays in patients with advanced cancers, including metastatic lung cancer," said Veena Singh, M.D., senior vice president and senior medical director of Biocept.

“Our ability to test for well-recognised and clinically validated biomarkers utilising our liquid biopsy platform provides a great advantage to patients both in monitoring and at the time of diagnosis when tumour tissue may be insufficient for additional testing or for therapy alteration due to the well-documented issue of tumour heterogeneity."

"We are very excited to work closely with the University of California, Irvine and other leading institutions to further validate our technology," said Michael Nall, president and chief executive officer of Biocept.

"We believe our liquid biopsy approach will save healthcare dollars and, more importantly, provide information to physicians to qualify more patients for targeted therapies that can result in saving and extending lives."